6 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



Now that we have discovered fresh spoor, I 

 leave my carriers and boys to follow at a 

 considerable distance behind, while I push ahead 

 with my two trackers in pursuit of the game. 

 These trackers can read the bush as plainly as 

 a civilized man reads his newspaper, and yet, 

 after a lifetime spent in hunting, I can state 

 that they are usually inferior to an adaptable 

 and thoroughly trained white man. Even here, 

 finer brains count. As we trudge along, we 

 suddenly come across fresh droppings, and my 

 tracker, thrusting his foot into them, says they 

 are warm, an announcement which causes me 

 to bubble over with excitement, for I know that 

 we are coming up w r ith our quarry. It now 

 behoves us to advance with the utmost wariness, 

 and I follow my tracker so closely, that he can, 

 if necessary, touch me with his hand. My rifle 

 is held in my grasp, ready to slip to my 

 shoulder in an instant, while my other tracker 

 follows me with my second rifle, so that when 

 I have emptied my first, I have simply to make 

 a half turn and snatch the other from his hands. 

 This action has become almost instinctive with 

 me through years of constant practice, and 

 essentially so, for often one-tenth of a second 

 is in hunting, as in boxing, of vital importance : 

 you may not have the opportunity of saying 



