6 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. 
Now that we have discovered fresh spoor, I 
leave my carriers and boys to follow at a 
considerable distance behind, while I push ahead 
with my two trackers in pursuit of the game. 
These trackers can read the bush as plainly as 
a civilized man reads his newspaper, and yet, 
after a lifetime spent in hunting, I can state 
that they are usually inferior to an adaptable 
and thoroughly trained white man. Even here, 
finer brains count. As we trudge along, we 
suddenly come across fresh droppings, and my 
tracker, thrusting his foot into them, says they 
are warm, an announcement which causes me 
to bubble over with excitement, for I know that 
we are coming up with our quarry. It now 
behoves us to advance with the utmost wariness, 
and I follow my tracker so closely, that he can, 
if necessary, touch me with his hand. My rifle 
is held in my grasp, ready to slip to my 
shoulder in an instant, while my other tracker 
follows me with my second rifle, so that when 
I have emptied my first, I have simply to make 
a half turn and snatch the other from his hands. 
This action has become almost instinctive with 
me through years of constant practice, and 
essentially so, for often one-tenth of a second 
is in hunting, as in boxing, of vital importance : 
you may not have the opportunity of saying 
