Page 190 - Adventures in Africa

The storm swept by, and the poor people were

satisfied that their shooting had driven it away.
Xext morning, mspanning at an early hour, we

proceeded in the direction we concluded the elephants
had taken.
While camping at noon} some of the natives who

had gone on ahead as scouts, brought us the satis­
factory intelligence that the herd were feeding in a
wood about eight miles off; and that as a stream ran

by, they were certain to go down to drink in the
evening; when, if we took proper measures, we
should be able to kill as many more as we wanted.

W e lost no time, therefore, in proceeding onward,
and as the ground was pretty level we made good
progress.

W e camped at a part of the stream where we could
draw water; and where, from the rocky character of
the bank, the elephants were not likely to come down

and drink. On one side it was a swamp, between
which and our camp we could leave our horses at

liberty to feed, one or two men only being required to
watch them. As soon as these arrangements were
made, we set off to search for the spoor of the ele­
phants, so that we might place ourselves in ambush

on one side, as we had before done, to shoot them as
they approached or returned from the water.

As we made our onward way, we caught sight of
numerous elephants feeding at their ease in various
directions. If they were part of the herd which we

had lately attacked, they had soon recovered from
their alarm. W e took up our posts in satisfactory
positions, hoping that, before the night was over, we