126 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



do but face the monster and hope for the best. All 

 at once, Simba, who was just in front of me care- 

 fully following the spoor (while I followed with rifle 

 almost touching him, ready for instant action in case 

 of emergency), grew rigid and pointed to the path 

 a few feet in advance, across which an enormous 

 black snake, having either seen or heard our 

 approach, was gliding, hissing angrily as it went. 



' Bwana, bahati sana ! ' whispered Simba, mean- 

 ing, ' Master, this presages great good luck ! ' 



Letting the reptile pass, we grimly pursued 

 the elephants' spoor, and about five o'clock came 

 up with our quarry where they had been feeding 

 in a small patch of bush. Carefully as we had 

 approached and in spite of Simba's rosy pre- 

 dictions, they succeeded in getting a sniff of our 

 tainted air and bolted. Exasperated with these 

 successive disappointments, I felt that something 

 in the nature of a desperate attempt was imperative, 

 and just as they were making off, I dashed full 

 speed towards a clearing, a few hundred yards 

 further on to our left, in the hope of outflanking 

 them, for I fully expected that, in an effort to 

 reach a large patch of reedy grass beyond, they 

 would traverse this intervening open space. I was 

 just in time to see two of them on the point of 

 vanishing into this convenient cover, and swinging 

 my rifle, took a snap-shot at the hindmost, luckily 



