x UPS AND DOWNS IN THE MBWEHU BUSH 103 



elephants that had given us such a rough time of it 

 during the previous two days, and could see by the 

 broken branches strewn in all directions that they 

 had been feeding in the neighbourhood during the 

 night. We tracked them very cautiously till about 

 1 1 o'clock, when, just as we had come up with them, 

 they got our wind and decamped, but as the im- 

 mediate country was fairly open, we raced after them. 

 My tracker, Chingondo, owing to the sharp running 

 and the weight of the heavy rifle he was carrying, was 

 soon completely blown, and, on his informing me of 

 his condition, I told him to drop behind. (Chingondo 

 was, moreover, an inveterate chewer of tobacco 

 mixed with a peculiar lime obtained from shells, and 

 was, therefore, never thoroughly physically fit.) 

 Seizing my light rifle from Ntawasie, who had 

 managed to keep up the brisk pace, I put on an 

 extra spurt and gradually got to within a hundred 

 yards of the quarry, but on achieving this, found that 

 I was much too short of breath to shoot quickly and 

 surely, especially as the animals were dodging in 

 and out among the trees. I succeeded, however, in 

 putting a bullet in the neck of the nearest one, who, 

 only staggered by the shot, promptly recovered and 

 rushed off as fast as his legs could carry him. I 

 followed in hot pursuit, and just as he was entering 

 a patch of bush gave him another bullet, which, 

 however, also failed to bring him down, and 



