50 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



Kom. As the sun was now low in the heavens and 

 the swiftly closing equatorial night not far distant, I 

 began to view the situation with some uneasiness, 

 for if I failed to bag Kom- Kom before dark, he 

 might clear and his spoor get inextricably mixed up 

 with those of other elephants. Such a contingency 

 might end in our losing him altogether and prove a 

 disheartening conclusion to a most arduous hunt. 



The scantiness of the blood-spoor accentuated 

 my fears on this score, for had the second bullet, 

 which had entered his skull above the right 

 eye, merely passed through the upper portion 

 of his forehead without touching his brain, 

 days would probably elapse ere he succumbed 

 to the effects of his wounds. 



As we were now to windward of him, a 

 change of tactics was imperative, so instead of 

 following his spoor we decided to make a detour. 

 Here the bush presented a formidable obstacle 

 to our progress, twigs and grass and creepers 

 forming such a bewildering network of growth 

 that we were obliged to crawl on hands and 

 knees, taking care to sever the interlacing stems 

 and branches silently with our knives lest we 

 should give our quarry any warning sound of our 

 advance. Scratched by thorns and cramped by 

 this uncomfortable method of progression, we at 

 length managed to approach within twelve yards 



