220 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH 



immediately sent my men to scour the long grass in 

 search of him. But all they discovered was Maka- 

 buli's tracks leading straight back to camp, and, as I 

 could not spare men to send in pursuit of him at 



such an awkward 

 time, we continued the 

 hunt and managed to 

 bag a couple of the 

 herd. 



Next day, we 

 turned our steps 

 homeward, and, on 

 arriving at our des- 

 tination, learned that 

 M akabul i had 

 reached camp on the 

 previous evening. 

 Still brooding over 

 the little incident of 

 the charging elephant, 

 he had gone in search 

 of his wives, and had 

 found one of them actually drinking pombe (beer) 

 and flirting with one of my men. Burning with 

 jealousy, Makabuli was more convinced than ever 

 that his suspicions were not utterly groundless, 

 so, taking his wife to his hut, he belaboured her 

 soundly, burning her hands and tearing all her 



MAKABULI 



