phant has always seemed to me a most grotesque animal; the
old-fashioned appearance of the young ones, and the awkward gait of all,
with that absurd look as though their skins were second-hand and did not
fit; the action of the hind-legs, like an old man's strut with a pair of
breeches on that are far too big, tend to make them look ridiculous; and
yet, withal, they walk about as though they considered themselves the
complete mould of fashion.

I reached the ground only just in time to see the elephants'
hind-quarters twist about behind a bush, waited a few minutes below the
tree to see if either of the three would return; but hearing nothing, I
got my two guns up the tree with the help of my Kaffir, and patiently
waited there, in the hope that the elephants would return for another
inspection. Had I been fortunate enough to have taken my guns up with
me at first, I could have easily dropped one of these elephants dead, as
their backbones were within twenty yards of me, and a heavy bullet
driven down near the vertebrae would have humbled the proudest elephant
in Africa.

I had not the slightest idea when I first ascended the tree that any
elephant would have come out into this open in search of me; and
climbing up a bit of vine being difficult while holding a gun, I waited
until I should see some black backs that might indicate the position of
the elephants before I hauled up my artillery; thus, however, I lost
this splendid chance.

After sitting patiently for upwards of an hour, and hearing nothing more
of the animals or even a sound of their presence, I gave up the idea of
waiting for them, and was making preparations for a descent, when I saw
the top branches of some small trees a few yards distant begin to shake
very violently. I cocked my gun, and was quite ready for a
bull-elephant, when I saw, to my great disappointment, that the
disturbance was caused by two or three little grey monkeys, that were
jumping about, and had evidently come to have a joke with me. They
looked up into our free with a very revere sort of critical expression;
made several faces and two or three short bows; scratched their sides
vigorously, and jumped from bough to bough until out of sight.

To show the attention that is sometimes paid to trifling matters in
bush-ranging, I will give another day's sport with Monyosi in the Berea.

We had gone in after elephants, and were on their spoor of the previous
night. There had been a gre