WE MARCH FOR THE MOUNTAINS 189 
We got back to the Nzoia River on December 
third. On the fifteenth, after many more unsuccess¬ 
ful attempts to get in touch with a herd, Mr. Ake- 
ley and I resolved to try the mountain again. We 
thought that perhaps the elephants might have 
moved northward along the eastern slope, and so 
we thought we’d push clear up to the Turkwel 
River and find out beyond question. We outfitted 
for an eight days’ march, carried only one tent and 
a small number of good porters. Only the abso¬ 
lute necessaries were taken, for we expected to 
move fast and hard. The first day we marched 
eight hours, crossed the Nzoia River, and by a 
curious chance at once struck a fresh trail which was 
diagnosed as being only a few hours old. The bark 
torn from trees was fresh and still moist; the leaves 
of the branches that had been broken off as the ele¬ 
phants fed along the way were still unwithered, 
and the flowers that had been crushed down by the 
great feet of the herd had lost little of their fresh¬ 
ness and fragrance. 
The trail led us first in one direction, then in 
another; sometimes it was a big trail that plowed 
through the long grass like a river, with little tribu¬ 
taries branching in and out where the individual 
members of the herd had swerved out of the main 
channel to feed by the way. And sometimes when 
all the herd were feeding, the main trail disap¬ 
peared, to be replaced by a maze of lesser trails 
leading in all directions. Rut by the skilful track¬ 
ing of our gunbearers the main trail would be 
