gun to break to the saddle the two
ponies which Moshesh had given me, and had already advanced so far in
the matter of their education that they would both allow me to mount
them, and I regarded the present as a favourable opportunity to give
Jack, the stallion, a little gentle exercise. Therefore I instructed
Piet to shift my saddle from Prince to Jack, and, taking my
double-barrelled sporting gun and a few cartridges, I mounted and
cantered away along the river bank, with Thunder and Juno, the two dogs,
bounding gaily along on either hand, and with Jack pulling hard upon his
snaffle and doing his utmost to break away, for he was so fresh as to be
almost unmanageable. A good brisk five-mile gallop over the veld to the
farther extremity of the vley, however, somewhat calmed his exuberant
spirits, and when at length I dismounted, the youngster was placid
enough to be quite willing to follow at my heels with the bridle resting
loosely upon his neck, or to stand still when it was allowed to trail
upon the ground.

The sun had already vanished in a haze of regal purple hanging low along
the western horizon when at length I managed to bag three brace of the
widgeon that I had been hoping for; and with these neatly strung
together by the feet, and slung across Jack's shoulders in front of the
saddle, I was just preparing to mount and canter away back to camp when,
looming monstrously through the thin, grey mist that was insidiously
rising from the veld, I beheld a long procession of enormous forms
gradually resolving out of the fog wreaths about half a mile away.
Vague and shapeless as were those vast, ghostly objects, I knew at once
that they could only be elephants coming over the veld to the great pool
to drink and bathe; and I at once determined to ascertain, if possible,
how many of them there were, for I estimated that there must already be
between twenty and thirty in sight, while others were momentarily
emerging into view from out the veil of mist. Therefore, instead of
mounting, and thus rendering myself more conspicuous than I was already,
I remained on foot, and headed for the nearest clump of bush with Jack
and the two dogs following at my heels, my intention being to conceal
myself and my following behind that convenient screen and thence observe
the movements and note the numbers of the approaching elephants. But I
had scarcely advanced thirty paces when there arose a sudden commotion
in the long grass almos