“‘Very well,’ said my father. ‘Don’t lose yourself in the bush; but you can’t do that with the sun shining as it is.’
“‘I’d like Blueboy to come with me, father; he’d carry my buck.’
“Now Blueboy was a bush-boy who was fore-looper (Fore-looper is the leader of the team of oxen; he holds a string fastened to the horns of the first two.) to the oxen sometimes, and who had taught me more spooring than any one else, and I wanted to consult him about this elephant.
“‘Oh yes! take him,’ said my father. So, beckoning Blueboy, I told him I wanted him to come with me, and the little fellow was glad enough to come, as we always had some sport together.
“‘There’s the gun,’ said my father; ‘it’s loaded with two bullets. I’ll just give you two more bullets, and two charges of powder, for you must not waste the ammunition. Mind you’re back an hour before sundown.’
“This parting advice I hoped to comply with, and Blueboy and I walked off.
“I kept quite silent till we were away from the waggons, when I instantly said, ‘Blueboy, we are after an elephant.’
“‘Yes,’ said the sharp little fellow in his broken Dutch, ‘I thought so. I saw you go into the bush where the tree was broken. When did elephant break tree?’
“‘The marks were quite fresh, Blueboy; I think not long before we got there.’
“‘We shall see when we look,’ was his reply.