Dec. 3.--With The Cook And The Canteen In Company We Started At Break Of
Day, Leaving The Servants To Pack Up And Bring The Coolies And Tents
After Us.
By this arrangement we were sure of our breakfast wherever we
went, and we were free from the noise of our followers, whose scent
alone was enough to alarm miles of country down wind.
We had our guns
all loaded, and carried by our respective gun-bearers close to the
horses, and, with Banda, old Medima, and a couple of trackers, we were
ready for anything.
We had ridden about six miles when we suddenly came upon fresh
elephant-tracks in a grassy hollow, surrounded by low rocky hills. We
immediately sent the men off upon the tracks, while we waited upon a
high plateau of rock for their return. They came back in about a quarter
of an hour, having found the elephants within half a mile.
They were in high lemon grass, and upon arrival at the spot we could
distinguish nothing, as the grass rose some feet above our heads. It was
like shooting in the dark, and we ascended some rising ground to improve
our position. Upon arrival on this spot we looked over an undulating sea
of this grass, interspersed with rocky hills and small patches of
forest. Across a valley we now distinguished the herd, much scattered,
going off in all directions. They had winded us, and left us but a poor
chance of catching them in such ground.
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