x UPS AND DOWNS IN THE MBWEHU BUSH 103 
elephants that had given us such a rough time of it 
during the previous two days, and could see by the 
broken branches strewn in all directions that they 
had been feeding in the neighbourhood during the 
night. We tracked them very cautiously till about 
11 o’clock, when, just as we had come up with them, 
they got our wind and decamped, but as the im¬ 
mediate country was fairly open, we raced after them. 
My tracker, Chingondo, owing to the sharp running 
and the weight of the heavy rifle he was carrying, was 
soon completely blown, and, on his informing me of 
his condition, I told him to drop behind. (Chingondo 
was, moreover, an inveterate chewer of tobacco 
mixed with a peculiar lime obtained from shells, and 
was, therefore, never thoroughly physically fit.) 
Seizing my light rifle from Ntawasie, who had 
managed to keep up the brisk pace, I put on an 
extra spurt and gradually got to within a hundred 
yards of the quarry, but on achieving this, found that 
I was much too short of breath to shoot quickly and 
surely, especially as the animals were dodging in 
and out among the trees. I succeeded, however, in 
putting a bullet in the neck of the nearest one, who, 
only staggered by the shot, promptly recovered and 
rushed off as fast as his legs could carry him. I 
followed in hot pursuit, and just as he was entering 
a patch of bush gave him another bullet, which, 
however, also failed to bring him down, and 
