s. The night was dark as Erebus, and the road, or rather beaten
track, could only be distinguished during the flashes of lightning,
which now came with blinding brilliancy. My horse slipped down on his
side, and nearly broke my ankle, as we were passing round a hill on the
side of which the road sloped; the rain, that now fell with rapidity,
having made the track greasy and slippery. Dismounting, I drove the
horse before me, but had great difficulty in getting him to keep the
beaten track; sometimes he would turn to the right or left, and the long
grass brushing against my legs would alone make me acquainted with the
fact of having left the road. I then waited for a fresh flash of
lightning to enable me to regain the pathway. Strange and indistinct
forms would be seen as the surrounding country was electrically
illuminated; the wild animals always choosing rainy or stormy weather to
wander forth from their rocks, holes, and coverts. Nearly two hours
were passed in the midst of the most vivid lightning and deafening
thunder, while the rain poured upon me in torrents. At the end of that
time I reached Botha's Hotel: I had to knock up the landlord from his
bed; but this civil and obliging man lighted a fire for me, and brought
the better half of a chicken-pie; in the enjoyment of which luxuries I
soon forgot the previous disagreeables; and throwing off my wet
garments, and fastening a blanket round my neck, and wrapping myself in
its folds Kaffir fashion, I feasted like a Zulu chief.

CHAPTER FOUR.

WARNINGS AGAINST THE BUSH--SEARCH AFTER A LEOPARD--UNSTEADY HANDS--
METHODS OF HUNTING ELEPHANTS--SPEED OF THE ELEPHANT--BUSH-TRAVELLING--
TRACES OF THE ELEPHANTS--SOLITUDE OF THE BUSH--TRACKING THE HERD--CHARGE
OF ANGRY ELEPHANTS--THE HORSES REACHED--SEARCH FOR THE WOUNDED
ELEPHANT--THE SUCCESSFUL SHOT--AN UNWITTING ESCAPE.

I had received so many accounts from different sources as to the great
dangers that were certainly to be met in the dense bush of the Berea,
and also the part that extended across the Umganie for several miles up
the coast, that I had hesitated attempting so rash a course as entering
it until I had gathered experience from trying cautiously at first what
dangers I was likely to encounter. "Elephants would catch me; tigers
(ie leopards) becroup (ie stalk) me; snakes bite me," etc.: these and
other horrors would be sure to entail my return on a shutter. I
frequently rode round and looked for a