Msiambiri and I in Danger 249 



to know whence the shots come. They trot here, 

 there, and everywhere, perfectly bewildered as to 

 what to do or which direction to take, until the 

 females lead the way, and make off, followed by their 

 young. I take advantage of the disorder, first of all 

 to fire almost point-blank (I believe at four yards' 

 distance), with my second 8 - bore, at an elephant 

 which passes within reach ; then, again seizing the 

 Express and overtaking the laggards, I hit two of the 

 animals with my two barrels. After that I stop to 

 breathe, while the whole of the elephants enter a 

 dense thicket situated nearly three hundred yards 

 away. 



Boldly entering the thicket on their heels, we 

 follow them for about ten minutes without coming 

 across any sign of wounded animals. They lead us 

 to a more open spot where are clumps of trees and 

 glades, like so many wooded islets surrounded by 

 bare ground. And a very fortunate thing for us it 

 was open, because, if the wood had been as thick 

 there as at its entrance, one of us would not have left 

 it alive. 



Almost the first thing we see in one of these 

 glades is a fallen elephant the large male. We can 

 tell at a glance that he did not get there the same 

 way we did, but by a parallel pathway which is 

 sprinkled with blood from his mouth. He separated 

 from his companions upon entering the forest, and, 

 as the other wounded animals may have done the 

 same, we think of returning on our steps to find their 

 tracks. But before doing so, wishing to convince 



