130 



ALONG LAKE RUDOLF 



suitable spot under some big shady trees, and the men took 

 possession with all the usual noise. The district was dotted 

 with low sand-hills and there was a good deal of succulent bush, 

 amongst which disported themselves countless common guinea- 

 fowl, and also examples of the rarer vulturine guinea-fowl. 

 I did not therefore go into camp at once, but amused myself 

 with shooting some birds. In a very short time I had brought 

 down five, and then, as some sand had got into my gun and 

 rendered it useless, I returned to camp with my booty. To my 

 surprise I heard the Count call out from the top of a sand-hill 

 hard by, ' How many did you get ? ' I had thought him far 

 away after the elephants, and answered simply, ' Five.' He ex- 

 claimed ' Extraordinary ! ' which puzzled me till I found he 

 thought that I meant elephants, as the herd was really in the 

 very thicket in which I had been shooting with such a light 

 heart. Soon afterwards two badly wounded animals issued 

 from it and approached the lake, whilst others still remained 

 concealed amongst the bushes. 



The Count, who had come to the end of his ammunition, 

 and sent to the camp for more, was trying to keep the ele- 

 phants in view, and I now went off in the hope of despatching 

 those he had wounded. But my messenger brought me out 

 the 8-bore rifle without any reserve ammunition, so I was 

 only able after all to finish off one of the animals. 



The other elephants very soon came out of the thicket, 

 and the Count brought down two with a double shot, but only 

 one was killed. The other soon struggled to its feet and, 

 followed by two more, went down to the lake, where they 

 remained standing, some 500 paces from the beach, with 

 the water up to their bellies. They were apparently all 

 wounded, and it seemed that two of those shot by the Count 

 at the beginning of the hunt had got back to their comrades in 

 the thicket. We fired from the shore several times at the 



