ELEPHANT HU^NTINO 157 



of their courage and skill. I instructed them, in th* 

 event of our finding, to select a good elephant, and, it 

 not able to kill him, at least to hold him in view ujitil 

 I had finished mine, which I promised to do as quickly 

 as possible, and then to come to their assistance. 



We had not proceeded far from the white rock when 

 we entered a forest frequented by elephants, and Vv-e very 

 soon came upon the fresh spoor of a troop of about ten 

 fine bulls. The spooring was conducted very properly, 

 the old chief taking the greatest care of the wind, keep- 

 ing his followers far back, and maintaining silence, ex- 

 tending pickets in advance, and to the right and left, 

 and ordering them to ascend to the summits of the 

 tallest trees to obtain a correct view of the surround- 

 ing forest. Presently the mighty game was detected. 

 Old Schwartland was led alongside of me, and my dogs 

 were all in couples, eight in number. I quickly mount- 

 ed, and, riding slowly forward, obtained a blink of one 

 of the elephants. I called to the natives to slip the 

 dogs, and then dashed forward for a selection. I choso 

 the last, and gave him a shot as he passed me; and 

 then, riding hard under his stern, I yelled like a demon 

 to clear him from his comrades and to bring the dogs 

 to my assistance. The dogs came as T expected to my 

 elephant, and I shot him from the saddle in a business- 

 like style, loading and firing with great rapidity; he 

 took from fifteen to twenty shots before he fell. All 

 this time I listened in vain for shots from John or Carey. 

 The former did not even consider himself safe in the 

 same forest with the elephants, and had slunk away 

 from Carey while in sight of a splendid bull ; nor did 

 we hear more of him that day. Carey did but little 

 better, for he lost his elephant immediately, one charge 

 being sufficient. 



