The General said that the elephants must be plentiful, and promised to show them the next day; but the boys seemed hardly to have sunk into a profound slumber, when they were roused by Chicory to tell them that there were elephants in the open forest close at hand.
The news was electrical, and in a very few minutes they were standing ready with their father; and strict silence being enjoined, they followed the Zulu warrior through the thin forest by the light of the moon, till, advancing very cautiously, the General made an observation or two, and then came back and led the little party to where they could peer from amidst the trees and dimly see, looming up from the edge of a great pool, the bodies of twenty or thirty elephants of all sizes, busily drawing up water in their trunks and squirting it into their mouths.
This they continued for some time, grunting, snorting, and uttering a peculiar sigh now and then, when, to Dick’s surprise, he suddenly seemed to see the huge bodies of the elephants more plainly, and knew that the day was breaking.
There was one great beast standing not forty yards from him, swinging its trunk to and fro, and flapping its enormous leather-like ears against its neck; when, unable to resist the temptation, and without pausing to consider whether it was wise or no, he took a quick aim at the back of the huge creature’s head; there was a flash, and as the report of Dick’s piece rang out, a tremendous rush, and the elephant herd had gone thundering over the plain.
But not all. The large tusker had fallen over upon its side by the pool, and on making a circuit so as to get at it from the side of the plain, Dick advanced to find that he had made a most fortunate shot, and as he drew near felt struck with wonderment at the huge proportions of his first elephant.
After feasting their eyes, the party returned to camp for something substantial in the way of breakfast, made toothsome with guinea-fowl, of which they shot several; and directly after the General went off to chop out the splendid pair of tusks,
Dinny accompanying him to have a look at the “ingy-rubber.”
This done, they started to follow up the trail of the elephants, for it was Jack’s turn now, and his father wished to add a few tusks to the load of treasures in skins they were to take back.
A long and wearisome following of the trail had no result, for it was evident that they had been so scared by the loss of their companion that they had gone straight off without pausing to feed, in search of safer ground.