ATTACK POSTPONED. 
317 
I had soon fallen into a deep but perturbed 
slumber, my fancy busily depicting the scene of 
my day’s adventure, and wildly shaping the chances 
of better success on the morrow, when, about 
midnight, I was startled by the cry “ Sir—sir, two 
elephants are passing us on yonder bank.” To 
spring to my feet and to seize the rifle was the 
work of an instant; and as soon as my eyes had 
become sufficiently clear of their sleepy film, I 
perceived, at no great distance, not only two, but 
three elephants, which, from their towering frames, 
I at once concluded to be males. They were 
marching with a steady but quick step; and, sup¬ 
posing they were about to quench their thirst at 
some rain-pools hard by, I hastened to intercept 
them. It soon became evident, however, that they 
had taken the alarm, and being afraid that, were I 
now to follow them, they might soon be alto¬ 
gether lost to view in the dimness of a starlit 
night, I deemed it best to postpone the attack 
until dawn. Halting thereupon, I said to Pereira, 
who was following me with a spare rifle, “ No, 
don’t let us disturb them now; to-morrow morn¬ 
ing, at break of day, we will take up their spoor.” 
The arrow which entered the flesh of the arm was cut out, but the 
other, which entered the breast, and appeared to have passed round 
the bladebone, could not be extracted. He was carried on a rude 
stretcher, hurriedly made for the purpose, to his veldt-home,” where 
he lingered in great agony for five days. “ The Bushmen’s poison,” 
the narrator of poor Pereira’s death goes on to say, “ is usually very 
fatal in its effects; but in this instance it had evidently become weak 
either from exposure or age. Otherwise, he would not have survived 
the fatal shafts for more than a few hours .”—The Editor. 
