xxxv LOVE AND FAREWELL 305 



we sallied out on a hunting expedition, and had 

 been several days absent without discovering any 

 fresh elephant spoor, when, one morning, we 

 chanced upon the tracks of a very large bull 

 elephant, who had been digging up the sand at a 

 water-hole to the depth of four or five feet, a 

 customary proceeding with elephants when in quest 

 of water in the dry season. We decided, there and 

 then, to track down this animal, if possible, and as 

 one of my trackers, who was suffering from 

 fever, had been left behind in camp, Seremani 

 volunteered to perform his duties. So we set forth 

 on the spoor and, after a spell of hard tramping, 

 succeeded in coming up with our quarry about 

 eleven o'clock. As the wind was variable, he got a 

 whiff of our scent, and was just about to disappear 

 into the adjoining bush when I sent a bullet into the 

 region of his heart, unfortunately a little too far 

 back to arrest his career. He incontinently 

 vanished and travelled so strong, that it was well 

 nigh four o'clock before we again caught sight of 

 him. On this occasion, he was standing still, 

 about a hundred yards away from us, in a thicket of 

 bamboos, and cautiously though we had advanced, 

 he saw us and promptly charged. As he came 

 furiously on, I drove a couple of solid bullets out of 

 my '500 cordite into his face, but they failed to turn 

 him, and he continued his career till well within ten 



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