It did not occur to me that however much I might desire to make the acquaintance of this amazon she might not care for mine; but that is a good deal like a man, anyhow. The majority of the male sex always seem to think that their society is in demand, and you cannot make them understand that their room is sometimes better than their company.
So I followed Mirogo, who was following the strange tracker, and in a very few minutes I stood with my hat off in presence of the fair one, the sound of whose rifle had attracted my attention.
I bowed and smiled, and apologized for the intrusion, adding that I was quite unaware that any party but my own was in that region. "Don't understand me as objecting to your presence," I added, "as there is abundance of game for ten times the number of hunters that are likely to assemble in this neighborhood."
"Quite natural," said the stranger, "that you were not aware of our being in this vicinity, as we only arrived here last evening. We heard of a party of hunters who had come in from the southeast; we came in here from the southwest, from Walvisch Bay, and only encamped at sunset yesterday. This morning I heard of elephants in this forest, and came out in the hope of shooting one."
"And evidently you have succeeded," I replied, pointing in the direction of the fallen beast that lay a short distance away. "Allow me to extend my congratulations."
She accepted the compliment, and said it was not her first elephant by any means. "We have been out several weeks," she continued, "and have been hunting whenever the opportunity offered."
"One does not carry a card-case in his pocket on an elephant-hunt," I remarked, "so please allow me to introduce myself verbally. I am Frank Manson, at your service, and belong to a hunting-party that came out from Durban and has been working up in this direction. We are encamped about two miles east of here."
The fair huntress bowed slightly in acknowledgment, and then said: "I am Miss Boland, and am with my friend, Mrs. Roberts. We are both English, and are independent enough to travel by ourselves. The only men in our party are the native assistants, the fore-looper, after-rider, and manager; the latter is a Dutchman who has general charge of the wagons and outfit, subject to our orders."
I thanked her for the information, and asked if I or my friends could be of any assistance to her. It is so like a man to think that a woman always wants assistance that the suggestion came from me as naturally as does the phrase "Good-morning" whenever I meet a friend at the beginning of the day.
She smiled, saying as she did so, with an air of independence: