"Would you care to have a little sport, Mynheer Van der Wyck?" he asked.
"Only too delighted," was the prompt response.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE BULL ELEPHANT
"Listen, Logula," said the Colonel. "This is my answer. At the setting of the sun we will be at your kraal. If there are twenty of your men whose hearts are not filled with water, let them be ready to drive the bull elephant and the cow elephants up to the iron tubes that smoke of the mighty hunters. I have spoken."
The deputation made obeisance and withdrew, obviously impressed by the determination and confidence of the white man to rid the district of these formidable beasts.
"May we go too, sir?" asked Colin eagerly.
Colonel Narfield hesitated.
"Yes," he replied, after deliberation; "but only on certain conditions. This is a very risky business, and you are quite inexperienced at this sort of game. I know you've both plenty of pluck, but that isn't everything. An African elephant has a brute of a temper. His Indian cousin is a lamb compared with him, and it requires a tremendous amount of nerve to aim accurately at a ponderous beast charging on you at full tilt. Usually a man has an almost irresistible tendency to cut and run for it; in which case, unless there is ample cover of a very solid nature, he is quickly overtaken and trampled underfoot. Isn't that so, Van der Wyck?"