io ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. 
my quarry without much difficulty. On the other 
hand, if I merely wound an elephant and he bolts, 
I make every effort to follow him up and finish 
him, and I am glad to say that in the majority of 
cases I accomplish this end. I adopt this procedure 
apart from the question of obtaining ivory, for in 
my hunting I have always endeavoured to bear 
in mind the question of pain. Swift death is 
comparatively little to any living thing—long 
drawn out pain is terrible, and when the question 
of hunting is concerned, the professional is usually 
too experienced a shot to entail any unnecessary 
suffering on the animal he hunts, a compliment 
which, I fear, cannot always be paid to the 
amateur, or those who scurry through the country 
with the object of writing a book. 
The following up of a wounded elephant, 
especially if he joins a herd or crosses other 
spoor and is losing little blood, calls up the finest 
of skill in tracking. Where the remainder of the 
herd have been feeding, his spoor may show that 
he has been standing at rest; his droppings are also 
usually slightly apart from those of his companions ; 
and lastly, the impressions of his feet may serve as 
a means of identifying him from the rest of the herd 
by showing his method of progression. There 
is, also, always considerable risk in hunting a 
wounded elephant down, for knowing that you 
