xin STIRRING TIMES AT LECUNDI 137 



me, uttered a yell and sprung aside into the reeds, 

 and the animal, getting the odour of a human being 

 from the load, had promptly left him and turned his 

 attention to it, evidently taking it for a convenient 

 victim. Having driven his tusk through it and 

 trampled it out of all recognition, he had quietly 

 walked away, satisfied that he had accounted for his 

 man, who, having cautiously made his way to a tree 

 near by, had climbed it and been an eye-witness of 

 the whole performance. 



We pitched camp in a clearing a few hundred 

 yards from the spot where the tusker had wreaked 

 his vengeance on our food supply, and though 

 deprived for the night of these necessaries, we were 

 inclined to be in a cheerful mood, especially after a 

 meal of toasted elephant's heart, for we were 

 conscious that we had had a most exhilarating time, 

 and though of close shaves there had been a few, 

 everyone was safe and sound. Close shaves, 

 moreover, are the fare that the elephant hunter 

 fully expects, and to him, of all people, the old 

 saying, ' All's well that ends well/ peculiarly 

 applies. Moreover, the ivory resulting from the 

 two days' hunt reached the grand total of 623 Ibs., 

 not at all a bad Christmas-box from the hands of 

 Fate. 



