AFTER ELEPHANT AT BARINGO 69 



"450 (an old black-powder rifle) before losing sight. T 

 had thus placed one ball in the left, four in the right 

 side of his head, Archer one in the latter part and one 

 in the forehead — seven in all. No effect whatever was 

 produced, so far as we saw. But our men, who now 

 climbed into trees, at once reported that the beast w^as 

 going very sick, and, a minute later, that he had 

 stopped altogether. This we soon verified for ourselves, 

 seeing him at a standstill among the long grass some 

 300 yards distant. 



What should we do now? Never again, after this 

 experience, would I follow him up in that fearful 

 grass, where he has one as in a trap, for a man cannot 

 move a yard to right or left, whereas an elephant goes 

 through it as if walking in a meadow. We decided on 

 a policy of " masterly inactivity," leaving the wounded 

 elephant to die quietly (as we hoped) where he stood, 

 our scouts being posted in trees to watch him, while we 

 proceeded to have our lunch. 



Presently our elephant slowly moved into some very 

 heavy thorn -jungle beyond. How he crossed the deep 

 donga of the Tigerish River (which we had to swim 

 a second time) we could not see. Here we had a bit of 

 bad luck. Probably our trackers pressed on too fast ; 

 anyway the beast retreated on his heel-tracks, and we 

 lost an hour before recovering the spoor behind us. 

 He now left the grass-forest and entered a stretch of 

 thick, low thorn-scrub, most laborious and painful to 

 traverse. The day was far spent, and of intense heat 

 and hard going I had had enough, and returned to camp 

 at four o'clock. Archer followed on, first into the 

 swampy ground adjoining Lake Baringo, thence wheel- 

 ing to the left as the spoor turned due west, as if the 

 wounded beast meant to seek refuge in the Kamasea 

 Mountains, which closed the horizon some six miles 

 away. In that case we knew he was lost to us. Next; 

 day, however, the tracks showed that he had not dared 

 to face the mountains, but had held to the south some 

 twenty miles down the valley, where he had entered a 



