CHAPTER XIII 



STIRRING TIMES AT LECUNDI 



IT was on December 2oth, 1909, while the 

 majority of people at home were distraught over the 

 vexed subject of Christmas presents and busy prepar- 

 ing for the hundred and one amenities of the festive 

 season, that I was on safari towards the coast with 

 my men and their wives and children. We had had 

 a couple of uneventful weeks, but the Fates were 

 going to recompense us fully for the dull time by 

 some excellent excitement. We were making for 

 the upper reaches of the Mbarangandu River, when, 

 near the Lecundi stream, we came across the fresh 

 spoor of a herd of elephants. On our approach 

 they winded us and decamped, but, determined not to 

 let them escape, I set out on their tracks with four 

 of my men, leaving the rest of the caravan to camp 

 and await our return. A couple of hours' tramping 

 brought us up to them in a country abounding with 

 long grass, but they scented us once more and, as 

 they went crashing off through the tall growth, I 



