296 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



and compelled us, dog-tired and disappointed, to 

 pitch camp on the spoor. That night, being too 

 worn out either to eat or sleep, I tossed restlessly 

 on rny stretcher till dawn bade me once more start, 

 in spite of physical reluctance, on the tracks of the 

 wounded elephant. By ten o'clock, we found that 

 he had joined a herd of five other males, and now 

 there followed some solid, dogged tramping, up hill 

 and down dale, over sand and across marsh, 

 through thorn-scrub, and bush and long grass ! 

 Twice I stopped to give my men a mixture of sugar 

 and cocoa to brace them up against this arduous 

 work, while I, myself, had recourse to a most 

 welcome Thermos flask containing hot tea. Finally, 

 towards five o'clock, the spoor became fresher, and 

 we could see that the elephants had begun feeding. 

 About this time, too, the herd divided, four of 

 them taking to the long grass, the other two 

 making for a python- and crocodile-infested swamp, 

 into which it would have been folly to pursue them. 

 I decided to follow up the four, and had not made 

 much further progress, when the noise of a breaking 

 tree disclosed their proximity, but, as the long grass 

 completely hid them from our view, I climbed a 

 small tree and from this point of vantage could see 

 them browsing on the branches and foliage of the 

 tree they had just smashed. As it was impossible, 

 however, to aim at a vital spot in any of them 



