XV 
RETURN TO LAKE RUDOLPH 
35 7 
they are laid, to preserve them from the rapacity of the 
vultures. 
The distance to our elephants not being great, I sent Juma 
back with another man in the afternoon to get me some fat and 
a piece of the heart of one. I told him I thought the smaller 
of the two was the fatter ; but he found it to be in poor con¬ 
dition, while the big one was fat. I doubt if any one can tell, 
without opening it, whether an elephant is fat or not; as a 
matter of fact they never look so externally. 
Squareface had brought word that he had found the spoor 
of an odd bull or two near one of our former camping-places, 
some distance on, and also that the herd, at which I had so 
bungled my chance, had drunk near here during the previous 
night. Knowing him to be an indifferent judge of spoor, I did 
not put much faith in the latter piece of information ; but I 
decided, at any rate, not to move camp again until I had made 
sure that we were leaving no elephants in the immediate 
vicinity. So, as I did not feel much the worse in the morning 
for what had been a rather hard day’s work for me nowadays, 
I started off about 5.30 with Juma and Smiler to look for fresh 
spoor ahead, sending Squareface in the opposite direction on a 
similar errand. We went nearly to our next camping-place, 
but found no spoor, even of the day before, barring that of the 
two bulls already accounted for ; so I came back to camp early, 
feeling that, failing any news of elephants near, I needed some 
rest to-day. As Squareface, who did not return till about 
1 o’clock, reported that our herd had gone right back to its 
former haunts, I spent the rest of the day quietly in camp. 
Having already sent instructions to Abdulla to follow with the 
caravan, I decided not to move back in the direction of Reshiat 
again, but to go on to the camp where I had arranged to wait 
for him, and hope to pick up another bull in that neighbour¬ 
hood, so as to be ready to continue our journey when my 
people overtook me. 
During this last night here there were noises and reports 
