194 AN AWKWARD POSITION. 



however, I expected some notice to be taken of the two 

 wounds ; but the elephant never shook his head. Coiling 

 up his trunk, he charged straight into the forest, followed 

 by the whole herd, crushing and smashing all before them, 

 like a parcel of runaway railway-engines. Monyosi told 

 me afterwards that it was fortunate none of the herd had 

 charged us, as there was so little cover that we might 

 very probably have got the worst of a hand-to-trunk fight. 

 This Kaffir always pleased me very much by the manner 

 in which he spoored; I could safely trust him on the 

 spoor, and he would follow with the accuracy of a blood- 

 hound. Several of the men whom I employed would often 

 go wrong, and lose the footmarks of some particular 

 animal in a herd, and thereby cause considerable delay. 



On one occasion I was in a very awkward position with 

 a troop of elephants. 



I had left my horse to graze, and was walking round 

 the bush, near some deserted Kaffir gardens. I was 

 searching for buck, "and had no idea of elephants being 

 near. A fine black bush-buck gave me a chance, and 

 I fired at him; he bolted away into the bush, and I 

 followed. There was only one elephant-path, and it was 

 so overgrown and blocked up that I could with difficulty 

 force my way along it. I kept a good look-out for the 

 buck's spoor, which I followed for about a quarter of a 

 mile into the bush, when I suddenly heard an elephant 

 move close to me. I lay down on the ground to try and 

 get a glimpse of him, and soon saw a whole string of 

 elephants moving along very quickly, distant about sixty 

 yards. I knew at once, by their way of moving, that they 



