11 ON THE JAMBENI RANGE 39 



so tall I could only see the top of her back and the top of her 

 head. Following once more I was taken off her spoor by two 

 small cows which ran past on my left, at one of which I got 

 a snap shot but failed to kill. I ought not, perhaps, to have 

 fired at these, but the ivory hunter is bound to endeavour to 

 make as much hay as possible when he does get a little sun- 

 shine, and the jungle precluded running or seeing beyond a 

 few yards. However, both these last got off, and the herd 

 seemed to have cleared out. 



It was now well into the afternoon, I was terribly foot- 

 sore, we were far from camp, our guides had disappeared, and 

 we could hear natives shouting. I knew these must be the 

 people who had fought with Chanler, so all things considered 

 decided to return. We went back to the dead elephants to 

 cut off their tails and take a piece of one's trunk and heart 

 (for myself) as well as some fat (first-rate for culinary purposes), 

 and I had a look at their tusks, which there had been no time 

 to do in passing. The ivory was all rather small, even for 

 cow ; still it was not bad for a beginning, though I was sorry 

 to have let off the one that went for me. We took a 

 straighter course back to camp than the way we had come, 

 and had a good elephant path all the way, so got there before 

 sundown. The rhino meat had been carried in lonsf aso. 

 Swahilis have a stupid prejudice against eating elephant meat, 

 and are foolish enough to prefer rhino. Some of my Embe 

 friends of yesterday had come again and said there were more 

 elephants in the neighbourhood. Altogether things looked 

 more hopeful than they had done yet with me on this trip ; 

 the only drawback being those awful sore heels from which I 

 suffered agonies to-day ; for getting footsore just now (for the 

 first time since leaving the coast) was a real calamity. I 

 determined to move camp on to the little stream we had 

 crossed on our way to the elephant bush, so as to be more 

 handily situated to chop out the tusks and go in search of 

 more elephants. 



