348 
ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA 
CHAP. 
I had decided to pack up and march with the whole of my 
outfit, as usual when travelling, instead of merely taking my 
gun-bearers, as when hunting with the intention of returning to 
the same camp. My reason for this was, that, being still so 
weak, it was important to camp as near as possible to the scene 
of action ; and as it would be necessary in any case to follow 
along the shore till either the elephants themselves or the 
place where they had drunk should be found, I thought it 
better to have all my belongings with me in the meantime, so 
that I might have as short a walk as possible after the hunt. 
We started at five o’clock, which is about the hour when the 
first glimmerings of dawn become manifest in that latitude, and 
in half an hour, while still dusk, saw an elephant looming black 
in the water near the shore of the lake, ahead of us. I took 
the caravan a little way back, and left them among some “ suaki ” 
bushes with strict injunctions to keep quiet, while I went after 
the elephant with Juma carrying the .303 and Squareface with 
my camera. I never got a shot with the latter, and the one 
I had with the rifle was a failure ! 
The elephant—we could only see one, a big bull—had by 
this time come up from the lake and was strolling slowly through 
the open bush, a party of white egrets riding, in picturesque 
contrast to the dark hulk, on his neck and head. When we 
got to where he had entered a patch of thicker bush and 
become hidden, we took his spoor. The sun had just risen and 
was in our eyes ; it was my first attempt at elephant since my 
mauling and consequent long illness, and I was not as cool as 
I was wont to be, and as one ought to be to kill this game. 
These preparatory excuses are leading up to the confession 
that when we caught sight of the bull again, although the bush 
was not very thick compared with what I had thought nothing 
of before, I was in too much of a hurry to shoot, without 
waiting for a good chance or getting nearly so close as I had 
always been in the habit of approaching before firing. The 
consequence of all this was, that, though I thought at first that 
