In the afternoon another flock alighted also, and I killed two more. But after this no parrots came near us, though a number of flocks flew over our tree and Ngozo called to them.
All the flocks of parrots meet every evening, and the flocks that had been fired at had warned their fellow ngozos of their danger and to take good care not to alight on that tree.
After this the flocks of parrots, as they passed above or near us, took care to fly high, uttering shrill cries of anger.
One day while I was stuffing some birds I had killed in the morning, and Rogala was looking at the work I was doing with great astonishment, Shinshooko made his appearance. He was out of breath, for he had been running fast. As he saw us, he shouted: "Jockoo! Jockoo! Elephants! Elephants!"
"Where are they?" Rogala and I inquired at the same time.
"Not far from here," he said, speaking with difficulty, for he was much out of breath.
We took our guns, I taking "Bulldog" with me. We had hardly walked an hour in the path, when we came upon numerous elephant tracks.
"They have gone towards the river," whispered Shinshooko, as he looked in the direction in which their footprints pointed.
When we came to the river, we saw the canoe with several paddles. It did not take us long to embark, and we paddled so noiselessly down the stream that our paddles could not be heard as they struck the water. Before coming to a bend which commanded the view of the river for a long distance, we landed to search further down. Shinshooko went to the extreme end of the point, where a better view could be obtained. In a short time he returned. I could see by his face that he had good news to tell us. He had seen the elephants.