CH. II 
THE FIGHT WITH THE FOUR 
17 
who had unfortunately got our scent and speedily 
made off on each occasion that we were about 
to come up with them. Nightfall had put a 
close to a most disappointing day’s hunt, and 
worn out, ravenous with hunger and parched 
with thirst, we had settled down to pass the night 
at a spot about two hours’ journey from the 
Mbemcuru River, where we might have obtained 
water, had we had the energy left to cover 
the intervening distance. We had hoped, more¬ 
over, that my four extra men, who were follow¬ 
ing in our wake with my food-box, and a further 
supply of water, would have turned up before 
dark. But in this we had been doomed to dis¬ 
appointment, and, as we had eaten nothing 
since breakfast and drunk the last of our water 
at 2 p. m., our frame of mind on retiring had 
been anything but cheerful. 
At first streaks of dawn, we were up and about, 
and though we felt considerably refreshed by the 
night’s sleep, our hunger and thirst were not a 
bit abated. In spite of these discomforts—for 
we were all in excellent physical condition and 
inured to every hardship—I decided to follow up 
the elephants we had heard in the early morning 
hours, hoping to bag one or two by forenoon 
and then make all haste for the Mbemcuru. Before 
c 
