46 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. 
Having taken his place, 1 was warily advancing, 
rifle in hand, when, all at once, there came to our 
ears the sound of an elephant crashing and 
smashing headlong through the bush. There was 
no mistaking what had occurred: Kom-Kom, 
having got a sniff of our tainted air, had instantly 
made off at a tremendous pace. We followed 
in hot pursuit and what a dance he led us, 
through the long jungle grass under the rays 
of a broiling sun! On all sides the upupu, or 
itching buffalo bean, twined among the tall grass 
and every accidental contact with the latter sent 
the dark green velvety hairs that clothe the 
bean-pods in showers upon our bare arms, legs, 
necks, and faces. As there is no method of 
alleviating the insufferable itching produced by 
these hairs, except by rubbing the affected parts 
with wood ashes, an impossible procedure at such 
a critical juncture, we had simply to endure 
the irritation in silence and trudge stubbornly 
on, buoyed up with the knowledge that we were 
after Kom-Kom, the Mighty One. At length, 
having thoroughly tired us, he entered a dense 
patch of entangled vegetation and began to 
double and redouble on his tracks, using every 
wile to throw us off the spoor that frequent 
hunting at the hands of native ivory collectors 
had taught him. When an elephant begins to 
