THE PRESERVATION OF GAME. 219 



Once on an elephant track the going is easier, but by no means can it be called 

 " easy going," for although the elephant will have crushed down the grass to some 

 extent, there will still be the spaces between his footprints, with grass often the more 

 difficult to pass through from having been pushed sideways across the track. There 

 the hunter will have the added exertion of raising his knees to the level of his waist 

 at every step, an action most trying after an hour of it. If the elephant has passed 

 through a forest it will have pushed aside branches which will have sprung back again 

 across the track, and the hunter will have to go round these or crawl under them. 



Perhaps the most trying part of the " following up" performance is the strain of 

 having to keep on the alert the whole time, for there is constant occupation for all 

 the senses. The hunter will find that his eyes are for ever being strained to see 

 through the gr^ss or the branches ; his ears constantly listening for the sound of a 

 flapping ear, a stomach rumble, or the stamping of a foot, or even the breaking of a 

 bough. The great beast may be standing still in his tracks only a few yards away, 

 so even the sense of smell must be used when amid thick grass, as the scent of 

 the elephant is often the only indication of his presence. Nor is this all, for the 

 constant labyrinth of tracks will have to be sorted out, the elephant's movements 

 pondered over, and the direction of the wind frequently tested and always kept in mind. 



At last perhaps the flapping of an ear will be heard, and the hunter will then 

 steal forward, taking the wind incessantly and straining his ears to catch another sound. 



Let us say that he reaches at length what he supposes to be the spot, and 

 there waits for another sound. He anxiously tests the wind again, and finds it gusty 

 and then still. Suddenly a shrill trumpeting sounds from twenty yards away, and 

 three elephants burst out and crash past within a few yards of where he stands. 

 The wind has changed and they have got a whiff of him. They are gone in a 

 second or two for good, and until he examines the tracks he is unable to tell if they 

 were bulls or cows, for the high grass and the animals' own large ears have concealed 

 from him all but the merest glimpse of their tusks. An examination of the ground to 

 his front shows him that the whole herd had been close by before the alarm was given. 

 So he turns round and sorrowfully returns to camp, hoping for better luck next time. 

 Anyhow, he has come well out of it, which he might not have done had he been 

 standing a few yards more forward. 



The description of a week of hard walking and harder luck would afford but 

 dismal reading, so we will pass this over, and make our hunter more lucky on his 

 next venture. We will say he has had a long and trying day after reported 

 elephants, and has only met with old spoor. However, on his way back to camp in 

 the afternoon he is met by natives, who say that they have just seen some elephants. 



