Hunters three: Sport and adventure in South Africa

by Thomas Wallace Knox

We had a little more good-natured raillery on this subject, and just as it ended we were called out to look at one of the horses, which had gone sick. He showed every symptom of the horse-disease peculiar to South Africa, which has carried away so many animals of greater or less value. When a horse sickens it is necessary to bleed him freely, and if this is done in time he may be saved. One of the most trying things to a hunter in Africa is the loss of his horses, whether by the African disease or the tsetse-fly. The latter can be avoided by keeping away from the country where the fly abounds, but no amount of caution can avoid the former. Horses that have had the disease and have recovered are said to be "salted," and are much more valuable than those that have not passed through it. Having had it once, they are not altogether exempt from it, like a child with the measles and other infantile maladies, but they are far less liable to a second attack than they were to the first.

After the incident of the horse we sat down to supper, which consisted principally of a stew made of the koodoo that I killed, and the tongues of the elands broiled over coals of thorn-bushes, the whole washed down with coffee, and a thimbleful of brandy at the end. Then came our pipes and a chat about what we had best do the next day.

Our Kafirs reported a small herd of elephants three or four miles to the eastward. They were sighted along in the afternoon, and as they had not been disturbed at all it was thought they would remain where they were until the next day. We decided that we would go in pursuit of them, making an early start, so as to get the most of the hunt over before the great heat of the day.

In the morning we sent off the trackers an hour or so before we started ourselves, with directions to make out the position of the herd, so that we should lose no time in getting to work. We followed on horseback, and when we had accomplished about two thirds of the distance to the forest we met a Kafir who had been sent back by Mirogo to tell us that the elephants were there. At the edge of the forest we dismounted, leaving our horses in charge of the men, under the shade of a large tree which was about a quarter of a mile from the woodland where the elephants were. Harry and Jack were posted on opposite sides of the forest, while I went into the wood, accompanied by Mirogo and Kalil. I had my two heaviest rifles, and was prepared to do good work if the opportunity offered.

The scheme was for me to do the best I could while among the trees; of course my first shot would alarm the entire herd, and as the forest was not large they would be pretty sure to run out of it. Harry and Jack were to take shots at them, if possible, from their points of concealment, and then signal for their horses to be brought, and pursue the big game on horseback over the open country. I was to come out of the wood as soon as whatever work I could do there was accomplished, and follow the example of my friends; that is, mount my horse and chase the herd.

It was not long after entering the forest before Mirogo, who was leading, came upon the spoor of the elephants. It was evident there was a number of them—all the way from five or six to twice as many—and the spoor showed that they were animals of the first class so far as size was concerned.

There was no difficulty in following the spoor, as the herd made quite a track through the underbrush, and so facilitated my movements a good deal. In a little while we heard the crashing of bushes and the usual noise that an elephant makes when he is feeding or leisurely proceeding through a wooded country. We hurried along cautiously, and presently I caught sight of a bull with a magnificent pair of tusks.

Before I could get a shot at the fellow or any of his companions something disturbed them. What it was I did not know; perhaps they caught our wind from some direction, or, the herd being a little scattered, they may have caught the wind from the parties outside the forest and passed the signal along from one to another. They made trumpet-calls to indicate some sort of elephant-talk, and then they seemed to huddle together, as nearly as I could make out, for a consultation. At all events, they got out of my sight, and very soon I heard them crashing out of the woods at a great rate.

I knew it was useless to follow on foot, and so made my way back again out of the forest to where the Kafirs were holding the horses.

I had just reached the tree where my horse was when I saw the elephants coming out and making across the open country for another patch of forest three or four miles away. There were four bull-elephants and five or six cows; the bulls were magnificent fellows and the cows by no means an ordinary lot. I was nearer to the herd than either Jack or Harry, and that gave me choice of the beasts. I singled out the largest of the bulls and gave chase.