IX 
EXCURSIONS FROM EL BOGOI 
207 
away with it in the direction the elephants had finally taken. 
After manoeuvring 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 was 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 
