"We will do so," all the hunters said, with one voice, "but we hope to kill the elephants on the spot," and as they said this they looked at the charms which hung on their guns.
We separated, as we had agreed, into three separate parties, but not before we had taken our dinner of elephant meat. Each party went into the prairie to reach the fields, and one and all disappeared in the midst of them.
I had just looked at my watch for the tenth time, which marked one o'clock, when lo! I saw through the dim moonlight, emerging from the forest on the opposite side of the prairie, something like a big black spot, which was moving. Soon I saw it was a huge bull elephant. He walked for a while, then stood still and looked all around, as if to see if there was danger ahead.
Okili and Niamkala had their backs turned to me, and were watching in another direction. I gave the cluck of danger—cluck, cluck! They turned toward me, and I pointed the bull elephant to them. Then the big bull gave a shrill, piercing trumpeting, which evidently meant there was no danger, for immediately afterwards elephant after elephant emerged from the forest into the prairie. I counted one, two, five, seven, ten, thirteen, seventeen, twenty, twenty-three, twenty-seven, when appeared behind them all a cow followed by a baby elephant. No more elephants came out of the forest; the herd was all there. They all came by the bull elephant and stood still in a bunch. Were they mistrustful of danger, or were they taking counsel together before moving?
Fortunately for us the wind blew in the right direction; it blew from the elephants towards us, so they could not possibly detect our scent.
After a while the herd nearest to us, headed by the big bull, marched in our direction. Their keen eyes had evidently detected the plantains. They walked slowly. We could hear their heavy footsteps.
Soon they entered the plantation not one hundred yards from us, and then the destruction began. Plantain-tree after plantain-tree was brought down by them. They were making such a havoc!
Before we moved from our hiding-place we waited until they were so far in among the trees that they could not possibly see us when we crossed that bit of the prairie that stood between us.
The time came at last when we left our place. Okili gave the small cluck, to draw our attention, and made the sign to follow him. We left our hiding-place, and as soon as we reached the grass we lay low, creeping towards the place where the beasts were. We entered the plantation; tree after tree had been pulled down. Fortunately they were making such a noise continually pulling down the trees that they could not hear us.