i82 ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA chap. 



I am afraid I was really inclined to shirk it, thinking it not 

 advisable to tempt fate too far. Squareface wanted me to go 

 after them, but I decided to be content with the day's work, 

 though I fear Feruzi was a bit disappointed with me. But, 

 for my part, I felt very pleased with this return of luck, after 

 our want of success at El Bogoi, and hoped this would prove 

 the commencement of good fortune for the trip. I also felt 

 satisfied with m\' shooting ; I had five elephants down, and 

 only one had gone away wounded ; and I had wasted very few 

 cartridges, though I used one or two more, perhaps, than 

 absolutely necessary in finishing off, or rather making sure of, 

 elephants that had dropped ; but that is the safer plan. 



As already stated, my rifles were now a Lee-Metford and a 

 lo-bore Holland. Both had done their work well enough to- 

 day ; but I had not yet acquired thorough confidence in the 

 former, and the discharge of the other was something of a 

 shock, which, though its rubber heelplate prevented from 

 hurting the shoulder, made one's head ache, and knocked one's 

 fingers about cruelly. The volumes of smoke emitted, too, 

 were appalling, and a source of danger ; but its worst defect 

 was that the breech invariably jammed, and the emptx_cases^ 

 stuck, so that they had to be knocked out with a stick. 

 Altogether, I found my prejudices against big guns in no way 

 removed, and regretted more than ever the accident to my 

 trusty and equally effective .577. 



I found a passably good place to camp, just at the edge of 

 the swamp (I call it so, for want of a better name, though it 

 was not really wet), at a point where the river was close to the 

 western side, and just at the foot of the stony, dry hills. Not 

 an ideal spot, but neither was it a bad one, a thorn-tree or two 

 giving fair shade. It is a most important consideration to get 

 suitable camping -ground, close to the water, where one can 

 rest in comfort. I sent at once for some tit-bits and fat from 

 one of the elephants, so as to get it fresh, while I pitched the 

 tent and set things in order myself. I was glad when all was 



