1 88 ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA chap. 



cultivate), I know not. We rushed about from then (about 

 I P.M.) till sundown, always following clumps of the enormous 

 herd from one part of the bush to another, mostly in the dense 

 scrub where the ground was wet and often muddy and it was 

 only possible to get about by following the network of paths. 

 The elephants, broken up into small parties, kept moving 

 about, sometimes standing for a little and then dashing off 

 again, but not all leaving the neighbourhood, so that we never 

 had to go very far from where I commenced the attack. Most 

 of the shots were running ones, and I fired a great many more 

 cartridges than necessary — though I doubt if any elephants 

 went away wounded, as it was mostly at those already hit that 

 I wasted my ammunition. I confess I got too excited that 

 day (^contrary to my general practice), and have no doubt that, 

 had I kept cooler, I should have killed more elephants and 

 used fewer cartridges. 



Well, in the midst of this very warm work — the crashing 

 of elephants, stampeding through the thicket, sounding now in 

 one direction and now in another — I had just fired a shot fa 

 good one I believed) at one which passed near me full split, 

 as I ran to try to cut it off along a path, when Squareface 

 called my attention to the noise made by another portion of 

 the herd, forcing its way through the thick jungle on the other 

 side of us. Now, I am deaf of my right ear, and, owing to 

 that, am unable to tell which direction a sound comes from ; 

 consequently, I have to trust chiefly to my attendants as to 

 that. I ran towards the point indicated, as quickly as the 

 zigzag, obstructed passages would allow, ducking sometimes 

 under overhanging boughs, at others jumping over broken 

 branches. I had just come out into a more open narrow path, 

 which ran at right angles to the way I had been coming, as 

 some of the elephants were tearing through the bush just 

 beyond, in a direction parallel with the path I had just got 

 into. I could see the bushes swaying, and a bit of an elephant 

 here and there, as they crashed through, only a few yards 



