266 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. 
one another, I hastened after the elephants. But I 
had not gone more than a hundred yards, when I 
heard a rustling in the bush a short distance behind 
me, and on turning, saw, to my surprise, my trackers 
hurrying after me. 
My head tracker, Malingum, came up to me and 
said :— 
‘ Look here, bwana, it’s much too risky to tackle 
elephants in such dense bush, for if you get near 
them, you will be quite unable to plant a decisive 
shot, and should they get frightened and clear in 
our direction, we run great risk of being trampled 
to death, as it is well-nigh impossible to dodge aside 
to avoid their rush in this mass of entangled vegeta¬ 
tion. However, if you insist on going, we will 
follow.’ 
‘ Right you are! Come on, we’ll go through 
with it,’ I replied, feeling that this was no occasion 
for leisurely discussion, and pushing on, drew 
nearer and nearer to the quarry. 
As the elephants were now not more than thirty 
yards distant, it behoved us to use the utmost 
caution, and it was with every faculty alert, that we 
gradually crept closer and closer to them along the 
tunnel they had bored through the thicket. All at 
once, Malingum, excitedly tapping me on the 
shoulder, pointed a little to my right, and, looking 
to where he indicated, I could see the herd standing 
