“Yes, there was something else kept me away.”
“And that was—”
“This,” said Hans, as he pulled from his coat pocket a small brown lump like India-rubber, from which two or three long wire-like bristles protruded.
“You came on elephants!” exclaimed several of the Boers. “What luck! The first we have seen. Were they bulls or cows?”
“I came on fresh elephant’s spoor soon after I left you,” said Hans. “I dared not come back to call you, and feared to miss you; so I went on alone, and saw the spoor of four large bull elephants. This spoor I followed for some distance, and then found that the creatures had entered the forest. But the place was good; there were large trees, and but little underwood; so I could see far, and walk easily. I came upon the elephants; they were together, and knew not I was near till I had fired, and the big bull dropped dead.”
“Where did you hit him, Hans?”
“Between the eye and the ear, and he fell to the shot.”
“The others escaped, then, Hans,” said Heinrich.
“Not before I had hit one with fine tusks behind the shoulder.”
“Then he escaped?”