244 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
bearing straight on the buffalo, and on Abdul looking 
through it he exclaimed at once “ Gamoos! ” But with 
naked eye, neither he nor the rest could distinguish 
anything at all. 
Next morning (February 7th), after three hours’ work 
ashore, we were under weigh when, at nine o’clock, the cry 
of “ Fill ” again aroused me. This time there was no 
mistake. Less than half a mile away, a herd of elephants 
The Illusion. 
—sixty or seventy, strung out in line —were grazing 
towards us. The great pachyderms were feeding among 
cane-grass 6 or 8 feet high, and, in colour, precisely 
identical with the ant-hills of yesterday. We closed with 
the bank and watched. The main herd were cows, 
though among them, three, towering over their consorts, 
were probably young bulls. But half a mile to westward 
I spied four more, all good bulls; while between the two 
groups, half hidden by higher bush, stood a grand old 
Solitaire. Only once, and that for but a second, did he 
vouchsafe a glimpse of long curving ivory. 
