IX EXCURSIONS FROM EL BOGOI 207 



away with it in the direction the elephants had finally taken. 

 After mancEuvring about they had gone down stream, in which 

 course they steadily kept on, and evidently meant trekking. 

 After patiently following the tracks all down the valley again, 

 we got at last into that awful jungle of giant swamp grass just 

 above our old camp. The spoor led through the most 

 impracticable part of this forbidding fastness. The grass was 

 high enough to hide the biggest elephant ; its stems were like 

 canes, and the paths inside were mere tunnels, often obstructed 

 by masses of the thick, heavy crop being laid across them. It 

 was with the greatest labour that we could make any progress 

 through the tangle, and in places it was well-nigh impenetrable, 

 while anywhere but in these tunnels it was as absolutely so as 

 a solid wall. Moreover, owing to the paths being covered with 

 dry litter, it was impossible to keep the spoor. Nor would it 

 have been possible to do anything with them if the elephants 

 had been inside (though my belief was that they had gone right 

 on) ; for one could hardly see a yard ahead, even in the path, 

 and, as they must have heard us coming and there would be 

 no possibility of escape if they charged, the danger was 

 excessive. So we wormed our way out, and I was not a 

 little relieved to emerge, about three in the afternoon, from 

 the stifling heat and stiff rasping stems of the brake into 

 the open air, where one could stand erect and walk with 

 comfort. 



On the way back I got a chance to stalk some Grant's 

 gazelle, which had been feeding on some short green grass grow- 

 ing in a damp hollow near the edge of the lagoon but moved away 

 at our approach, and succeeded, by crawling up a stony ridge 

 under cover of the crest, in shooting a couple to keep up our 

 supply of fresh meat. One of these ran some distance ; but 

 feeling confident it v/as mortally wounded, I sent Juma after it, 

 and he retrieved it and met us farther on with it on his 

 shoulders, Smiler bringing on the other, while Squareface and] I 

 carried all the guns and other odds and ends. We reached 



