318 
THE ELEPHANT. 
I then added, half speaking to myself, and half 
addressing my servant, “ Two of these brutes, as 
I certainly foresee, must and shall bite the dust 
before the setting of to-morrow’s sun.” 
Accordingly the first grey streaks of dawn had 
hardly announced the arrival of the blushing day 
when I was in pursuit of my lost quarry. They 
had evidently visited a fountain in the neighbour¬ 
hood, but the excessive rankness of the grass, and 
the numerous tracks of other elephants who had 
previously quenched their thirst there, made it so 
very difficult to follow the spoor, that the sun 
was high in the heavens before we had fairly 
tracked them on the way to their noonday haunts. 
Fortunately, they had progressed very leisurely, 
which enabled us to gain on them rapidly, and in 
a short time we viewed them in the distance. Two 
out of the three were sauntering to and fro ; here 
cropping tender shoots, there thrusting their mas¬ 
sive tusks under the roots of trees, in order, by 
toppling them over, to feed more conveniently on 
their delicate leaves and sweet tendrils, whilst the 
third was loitering in the rear, carelessly scraping 
the sand with, his flexible trunk, that he might 
gain access to some favourite root or succulent 
bulb. 
Interesting as was tbe picture, I gave but a few 
moments to its contemplation, and proceeded at 
once to the attack. A short <c stalk ” sufficed to 
bring me within easy range of the laggard. A 
minute afterwards, the still morning air was dis¬ 
turbed by the explosion of my trusty rifle. A 
