XIII 
STIRRING TIMES AT LECUNDI 
*35 
in their direction. They promptly made themselves 
scarce, and the enraged animal, having no currents 
of air to assist him in locating them, kept dashing 
hither and thither through the bush in an effort to 
hunt them down. Seizing my double *577, I rushed 
off, accompanied by my trackers, in the direction of 
the yell we had heard, and had not gone far, when I 
encountered my cook tearing headlong through the 
grass, his eyes starting from his head with sheer 
terror. In a few words he explained what had 
occurred, saying that poor Usufu had most likely 
been killed, for when they had met with the elephant 
they had scattered in different directions and the 
animal had dashed off in pursuit of Usufu. Making 
the cook accompany me to show me where he had 
separated from his companion, I hurried along, 
fearing that the worst had happened, and, on arriving 
at the spot, listened with strained attention for any 
sound that might indicate the whereabouts of my 
boy or the elephant, but a most ominous silence 
reigned over the scene. As the sun had now sunk 
behind the hills, and the light was fast failing, we 
cautiously followed the elephant’s spoor, and had 
made very little progress, when, all at once, we heard 
a succession of short, shrill screams, and the noise 
of the animal dashing back through the bush on his 
own tracks, right in our direction. When he was 
within a few yards of us, I fired both barrels in his 
