248 
SPOET AND WAE. 
CHAP. XXIII. 
this brow, at a short distance from the forest where the 
elephant was, there was a small clump of trees, of soft 
wood, about the size of a large house, near which the 
Hottentot, in riding over the brow, in order to get as 
far from the forest as possible, had to pass. 
In this clump of trees, with the instinct of his 
nature, was hid all the while a second rover elephant, 
which could not resist the temptation, but broke 
through the trees and charged out on the Hottentot, 
trumpeting enough to make the ground tremble. The 
after-rider had just time to wheel the horse about, lay 
in the ‘sam-bok,’ and race towards us. We were stand¬ 
ing, ten of us in all, at about eighty yards from where 
the elephant broke cover, and the Hottentot was racing 
directly towards us, standing in his stirrups, looking 
over his shoulder in dreadful alarm, flogging his horse 
all the time, and shouting, 4 Skeet, skeet, Aalamagtig 
baas, skeet!’ that is to say, ‘Shoot, shoot, for Grod’s sake, 
master, shoot! ’ The elephant kept overhauling the 
Hottentot at every stride, and was about to take him 
from the saddle with his trunk, the dark man looking 
ashy pale from fright, when all at once the furious 
beast saw the little knot of men standing not forty 
yards from him. At once his rage was diverted from 
the horseman to us ; with his trunk thrown up and his 
great ears pushed forward, he rushed at us, trumpeting 
a blast that might almost awake the dead. 
