"Ja," agreed the Afrikander solemnly; "but there, Colonel Narfield, I have an advantage. Although I am active in many ways, I cannot run. Therefore I must stand my ground. There is one good thing. It is no longer necessary to have a heavy elephant-gun. Mine, I remember, served me badly once. It missed fire, and a bull elephant was but thirty paces off. Fortunately, there was a strong tree handy; but even then the brute nearly uprooted it, and it was all I could do to hold on to a big branch without being shaken off."
"How did you escape?" asked Tiny.
"I remained where I was for four long hours," replied Van der Wyck. "Then three of my companions came to look for me. One of them broke the elephant's foreleg with a bullet in the knee. It took three more shots with a heavy elephant-gun to finish the brute."
"That was before explosive bullets came into use, I take it?" inquired Colonel Narfield.
"Yes," answered the old man, "long before; and a man could not depend upon the ammunition as he does nowadays. But, even then, it is a risky business for inexperienced men, this elephant-hunting."
"You hear that, boys?" asked Colonel Narfield. "You can come with us on conditions—that you keep at least a hundred paces behind Van der Wyck and me when we're following the spoor, and leave the shooting to us."
Colin and Desmond accepted the terms, although inwardly they jibbed, considering it hard lines to have to be content to remain passive spectators in the killing of a bull elephant. It was a case of half a loaf being better than no bread.
For the next couple of hours Colonel Narfield was engaged in overhauling his rifles and ammunition. The rifles were of .303 bore, firing an explosive bullet with a hard steel point. One of the rifles he lent to Van der Wyck, whose own gun was of a Mauser pattern and unable to take the explosive ammunition.
Colin and Tiny also took their sporting rifles, with bullets of an expanding type.
Accompanying the party were the three Haussas and a Cape Kaffir, told off to act as bearer to Van der Wyck. All were mounted on small, wiry ponies, although the actual hunt was to be performed on foot.