Page 118 - Adventures in Africa

that I must not go out again without him, lest I
should be killed by some savage animal.
“ But I have my rifle to defend myself/’ I observed,

“ Your rifle may miss fire sometimes, or you may
fail to kill the elephant or rhinoceros you attack.

Better have two rifles* I will go with you,” lie an­
swered, in his peculiar lingo,
Our plan was always to encamp near water, and

where we could obtain wood for our fires; for such
regions were certain to be frequented by a variety of

animals. Sometimes we remained two or three days
in the same spot, provided no villages were near;
though people were generally grateful to us for de­

stroying the wild beasts, as even the elephants are
apt to injure their plantations by breaking in and
trampling over them.

Harry and I, who had become fast friends, generally
went out together, accompanied by Toko, sometimes
on foot, sometimes on horseback. One day we had

all three gone out on foot, prepared for any game.
That we might be more likely to fall in with some

creature or other, we separated a short distance;
keeping, however, within hail, and agreeing that,
should one of us shout, the other two were to close

in towards him, I was in the centre, Toko on the
left, and Harry on the right.
W e had gone some distance when I heard Toko

shout, “ Elephant, elephant!fJ I uttered the same
cry to Harry, but he did not apparently hear me, and,
at all events, I could not see him. After running for

thirty or forty yards, I caught sight of Toko up a
tree, He cried out to me to climb another a short