290 BLUE LIGHT IN THE BUSH. 



I always found that a Kaffir was the most patient 

 and easily satisfied of my hunting companions. A few 

 evenings, therefore, after my failure with my restless 

 friend, I took Inyovu, and supplying him with a whole 

 box full of the strongest snuff and a thick blanket, took 

 my position once more in the spreading branches of the 

 old tree. I made every preparation for standing a siege, 

 in case the elephants attacked the tree, as was told me 

 would most probably occur, but which I did not for one 

 moment believe. To be well prepared in case of such a 

 contingency, I had filled a small tin saucepan with blue 

 light composition, and having sprinkled over it the tops of 

 a box of lucifer matches to obtain quick ignition, I fixed 

 it firmly in the branches close and handy. I purposed 

 pouring some of this when lighted on the back of any 

 weak-minded elephant who might presume to attempt to 

 haul me down. Unfortunately, all the illumination was 

 wasted on the desert air, for no elephants came to me* 

 although I kept awake and watchful all night. My 

 Kaffir thought me mad, a very common conclusion if 

 one does not do every thing in the * old way. Still, 

 although my night was elephantless, I did not consider it 

 as wasted, as the quietness around, only broken by the 

 whispering of the leaves as they affectionately felt each 

 other, and the occasional tiny cries of the ichneumons 

 and other vermin, or the blowing of a buck and rustle of 

 a herd of wild swine, were all music to an ear more 

 easily pleased with the wild side of nature than the 

 crash of omnibus wheels, or the murmur of crowded 

 rooms. 



