[Turning the Charge of the Buffaloes]
HUNTERS THREE.
CHAPTER I.
BREAKFAST INTERRUPTED—CHASING A BIG TUSKER.
We were just going inside the tent, Harry, Jack, and I, to eat our frugal breakfast, when we saw one of our natives coming at a rapid run. He waved his hand as he approached, and shouted:
"Tembo, Bwana!"
Rendered into English, this means, "Elephants, master!" and the announcement of elephants put the thought of breakfast out of our heads.
The man came to a halt in front of us, and explained, in a mixture of English, Cape Dutch, and two or three native languages, that he had discovered a troop of elephants a little more than a mile from our camp. There were ten or twelve of them, he thought, and among them were at least three or four large tuskers.
"All right," said I. "Let's go to breakfast, boys, and then go after the elephants. They'll keep, and the breakfast won't, nor will we keep, either, without it."