THE ADVENTURES OF AN 
ELEPHANT HUNTER 
CHAPTER I 
THE HUNTERS LIFE 
Before dawn I am awakened by the joyful 
singing of the birds in the forest, and, as I lie, I 
may occasionally hear the loud snort of a buffalo, 
the screeching, gossiping chatter of monkeys, or 
the loud booming woof-woof of the lion, which 
like an evil dream, seems to lose some of its 
sinister impressiveness at the approach of day. 
I am probably about to doze off once more, 
when my boy brings me a steaming cup of 
delicious cocoa—not the brick-dust and water 
concoction so often met with—but a beverage 
made with boiled milk and flavoured with a 
suspicion of vanilla. Immediately afterwards, I 
spring from my camp-bed, fill my lungs with 
air, and picking up my dumb-bells, go through a 
B 
