670 
African Game Trails 
that was with her. Late in the afternoon 
we saw an elephant a mile and a half away, 
crossing a corner of the open downs. We 
followed its trail until the light grew too 
dim for shooting, but never overtook it, al¬ 
though at the last we could hear it ahead of 
us breaking the branches; and we made our 
way back to camp through the darkness. 
The other day made amends. It was 
Kermit’s turn to shoot an elephant, and 
mine to shoot a rhinoceros; and each of us 
was to act as the backing gun for the other. 
In the forenoon, we saw a bull rhino with a 
good horn walking over the open downs. 
A convenient hill enabled us to cut him off 
without difficulty, and from its summit we 
killed him at the base, fifty or sixty yards 
off. His front horn was nearly. twenty- 
nine inches long; but though he was an old 
bull, his total length, from tip of nose to tip 
of tail, was only twelve feet, and he was, I 
should guess, not more than two-thirds the 
bulk of the big bull I killed in the Sotik. 
We rested for an hour or two at noon, 
under the shade of a very old tree with 
glossy leaves, and orchids growing on its 
gnarled, hoary limbs, while the unsaddled 
horses grazed, and the gun-bearers slept 
near by, the cool mountain air, although 
this was mid-day under the equator, mak¬ 
ing them prefer the sunlight to the shade. 
When we moved on it was through a sea 
of bush ten or fifteen feet high, dotted here 
and there with trees; and riddled in every 
direction by the trails of elephant, rhinoc¬ 
eros, and buffalo. Each of these animals 
frequents certain kinds of country to which 
the other two rarely or never penetrate; but 
here they all three found ground to their 
liking. Except along their winding trails, 
which were tunnels where the jungle was 
tall, it would have been practically impos¬ 
sible to traverse the thick and matted cover 
in which they had made their abode. 
We could not tell what moment we might 
find ourselves face to face with some big 
beast at such close quarters as to insure a 
charge, and we moved in cautious silence, 
our rifles in our hands. Rhinoceros were 
especially plentiful, and we continually 
came across not only their tracks, but the 
dusty wallows in which they rolled, and 
where they came to deposit their dung. 
The fresh sign of elephant, however, dis¬ 
tracted our attention from the lesser game, 
and we followed the big footprints eagerly, 
now losing the trail, now finding it again. 
At last near a clump of big trees we caught 
sight of three huge, dark bodies ahead of us. 
The wind was right, and we stole toward 
them, Kermit leading, and I immediately 
behind. Through the tangled branches 
their shapes loomed in vague outline; but 
we saw that one had a pair of long tusks, 
and our gun-bearers unanimously pro¬ 
nounced it a big bull, with good ivory. A 
few more steps gave Kermit a chance at it's 
head, at about sixty yards, and with a bullet 
from his .405 Winchester he floored the 
mighty beast. It rose, and we both fired 
in unison, bringing it down again; but as 
we came up it struggled to get on its feet, 
roaring savagely, and once more we both 
fired together. This finished it. We were 
disappointed at finding that it was not a 
bull; but it was a large cow, with tusks 
over five feet long—a very unusual length 
for a cow—one weighing twenty-five, and 
the other twenty-two pounds. 
Our experience had convinced us that 
both the Winchester .405, and the Spring- 
field .300 would do good work with ele¬ 
phants; although I kept to my belief that, 
for such very heavy game, my Holland 
.500-.450 was an even better weapon. 
Not far from where this elephant fell 
Tarlton had, the year before, witnessed an 
interesting incident. He was watching a 
small herd of elephants, cows and calves, 
which were in the open, when he saw them 
begin to grow uneasy. Then, with a shrill 
trumpet, a cow approached a bush, out of 
which bounded a big lion. Instantly all 
the cows charged him, and he fled as fast as 
his legs would carry him for the forest, two 
hundred yards distant. He just managed 
to reach the cover in safety; and then the 
infuriated cows, in their anger at his escape, 
demolished the forest for several rods in 
every direction. 
