THE COLONEL KILLS THREE ELEPHANTS 149 
from some section of the compass. A distant shot 
came in answer and he pushed on and soon came up 
with the colonel and Tarlton returning home after 
a night in the temporary elephant camp. The 
colonel gave him full directions and at nine o’clock 
the relief party arrived at their destination. 
In the meantime we, Mrs. Akeley, Stephen¬ 
son and myself, had left our camp on the river 
at six-fifteen, gone to the Roosevelt camp, and 
with Kermit guiding us proceeded on across 
country toward the elephant camp. On our way we 
also met the colonel and Tarlton, the former im¬ 
mensely pleased with the outcome of the hunt and 
full of enthusiasm about the adventure with the 
elephants. But the most remarkable thing of all, 
he said, was the hyena incident. He told us the 
story, and it is surely one that will make all nature 
fakers sit up in an incredulous and dissenting 
mood. 
During the night, the story goes, many hyenas 
had come from far and near to gorge on the car¬ 
casses of the elephants. Their howls filled the night 
with weird sounds. Lions also journeyed to the 
feast, and between the two they mumbled the bones 
of the slain with many a howl and snarl. Early in 
the morning the colonel went out in the hope of sur¬ 
prising a lion at the spread. Instead, to his great 
amazement, he saw the head of a hyena protruding 
from the distended side of the largest elephant. 
It was inside the elephant and was looking out, as 
through a window. A single shot finished the 
