188 



CHAFFED BY MONKEYS. 



two guns up the tree with the help of my Kaffir, and 

 patiently waited there, in the hope that the elephants 

 would return for another inspection. Had I been 

 fortunate enough to have taken my guns up with me at 

 first, I could have easily dropped one of these elephants 

 dead, as their backbones were within twenty yards of me, 

 and a heavy bullet driven down near the vertebrae would 

 have humbled the proudest elephant in Africa. 



I had not the slightest idea when I first ascended the 

 tree that any elephant would have come out into this 

 open in search of me; and climbing up a bit of vine 

 being difficult while holding a gun, I waited until 

 I should see some black backs that might indicate the 

 position of the elephants before I hauled up my artillery ; 

 thus, however, I lost this splendid chance. 



After sitting patiently for upwards of an hour, and 

 hearing nothing more of the animals or even a sound of 

 their presence, I gave up the idea of waiting for them, 

 and was making preparations for a descent, when I saw 

 the top branches of some small trees a few yards distant 

 begin to shake very violently. I cocked my gun, and was 

 quite ready for a bull-elephant, when I saw, to my great 

 disappointment, that the disturbance was caused by two 

 or three little grey monkeys, that were jumping about, 

 and had evidently come to have a joke with me. They 

 looked up into our tree with a very severe sort of critical 

 expression; made several faces and two or three short 

 bows; scratched their sides vigorously, and jumped from 

 bough to bough until out of sight. 



To show the attention that is sometimes paid to trifling 



