"WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



peared from our sight, but we followed their tracks 

 closely. Suddenly one of the bulls stood not far from 

 us in the shade of some fallen trees. Although he was 

 not farther than one hundred and fifty feet away, the 

 high grass and the entangling plants prevented me 

 from shooting at him. The animal, no doubt, scented 

 us ; it soon disappeared to our left. Excited, and anx- 

 ious not to lose this good chance, I followed him with 

 two rifle - bearers. A deep ravine intervened. We 

 traversed it as quickly as possible. There, close to 

 us, we heard a rustling noise. "Tembo, Rwana!" (sir, 

 the elephant), whispered one of my men. "Hapana! 

 Nyama mdogo " (no, only small game), I replied. The 

 same moment the bushes parted, the slender trunks of 

 the trees bent right and left, we were pressed to the 

 ground by the bent and broken bushes and trees, and 

 past us, almost touching us with his heavy foot, rushed 

 the animal without, fortunately, taking any further 

 notice of us. Such moments the hunter never forgets. 

 No one living peacefully within the pale of civilization 

 has the faintest conception, not even by the greatest 

 stretch of imagination, how helpless a man feels in the 

 heart of the grand and terrifying wilderness and at the 

 mercy of an animal like the elephant. Often, when 

 looking at an elephant in our zoological gardens, a 

 cold chill creeps over me as I recall those moments of 

 awful suspense, my unsophisticated neighbors mean- 

 while cracking jokes at the expense of the captive giant 



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