IV 
KOM-KOM 
5i 
of Kom-Kom. Though still unable to see him, we 
could hear the occasional flapping of his enormous 
ears, and feeling that any attempt at a closer 
approach would apprise him of our presence, 
we decided to remain perfectly still for a while 
and await developments. A few minutes afterwards, 
we heard the snapping of twigs and branches as 
he pushed his way for another fifty yards through 
the thicket, and hurrying to the spot which he had 
just vacated, we began most cautiously to follow 
the path which his bulky body had cleared through 
the matted jungle. Quietly as we had advanced, 
he must have heard some faint rustle of our 
movements (unless some treacherous eddy of air 
had borne him our scent), for, all at once, he 
turned, came back several yards on his tracks, 
and stood intensely still. Hoping to get a shot at 
him at an angle, we stole some distance towards 
the right, moving the branches aside as gently as 
possible and taking infinite care not to brqak any 
dry twigs underfoot. At this point, the inter¬ 
vening bush was considerably sparser and enabled 
us to obtain a fairly good view of Kom-Kom 
who, we found, was standing absolutely motion¬ 
less, with ears outstretched, intently looking back 
on the path which he had just made. There 
was something magnificent and statuesque about 
his whole pose as he waited there ready to give 
e 2 
