io6 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



River, we at once started off in pursuit of him ; but 

 after two hours' tracking, as our quarry appeared to 

 be a long way ahead and still going strong, I decided, 

 ere proceeding further, to indulge in a brief rest to 

 recuperate from the fierce exertions of the morning, 

 and told my two trackers to go and quench their 

 thirst and fill my water-bottles at the river, quite 

 forgetting to keep one of my rifles by me while they 

 were away. The immediate country was fairly open, 

 save for a space some thirty yards wide on either 

 side of the river, where grew that long, reedy grass 

 in which buffaloes and elephants love to roam. 

 Never dreaming that the elephant was in the 

 vicinity, I flung myself down beside a large ant-hill 

 to await my trackers' return, when, all of a sudden, I 

 was aroused by the snapping of twigs, a short 

 distance off, and jumping up, saw the animal, quite 

 unaware of my proximity, slowly approaching the 

 eminence near which I lay. What a beautiful 

 shot he presented, and how I cursed my stupidity 

 for not having kept a rifle beside me ! When only 

 about ten yards away, evidently having scented our 

 tracks, he halted and began sniffing the air, and at the 

 same moment, Ntawasie, returning from the river, 

 suddenly burst into view from the dense belt of 

 reeds fringing the bank. At once, the elephant saw 

 him, and uttering an angry scream made for him at 

 a terrible pace, while Ntawasie, scared out of his 



