e
noise was now made evident, for moving along slowly, the watcher saw for
the first time the huge bulk of the African wild elephant. It was
advancing towards the river. Suddenly it stopped, and for a few moments
the hunter's heart beat quickly, thinking the chance lost, when,
trotting along in a lumbering fashion, there came from out of the shade
of the cedar and mashunga forests a second, but this time a young
elephant. On they came, right for the river, opposite the hiding-place,
the young one stopping from time to time, and then coming on at a trot
to rejoin its mother. They neared the river, the old elephant evidently
carefully examining every yard of ground before putting her huge foot
down. They passed under the tree where the baboon was hid, and the
spirit of mischief seemed to wake up in the wounded animal,
notwithstanding all that had happened to him that night. Breaking off a
large bough, jabbering loudly, and making the most diabolical faces, it
took aim at the young elephant, the wood hitting it a smart blow on the
trunk. The mother stopped dead, uttering a strange trumpeting sound,
then circling her trunk round the stem of the young tree, began to shake
it violently. The monkey, active as he was, nearly came to the ground,
holding on with difficulty, and crying loudly. Then the cracking of the
stem was heard, just as the baboon, loosing its hold, dropped on the
ground, and with one wild spring clambered into another tree, and swung
himself from branch to branch, jabbering and whining with fear.

Casting the sapling from it, the elephant, as if satisfied with the
lesson it had given, came down to drink. Coming to the spot where the
panther and springbok had struggled, and where the grass and reeds were
beaten down, the animal halted, evidently suspecting one of the native
traps, and kneeling down on the edge it struck the ground all round with
its trunk. It was now within thirty paces, but still the hunter's rifle
remained silent. Hoping to meet with an elephant, the heavier rifle was
loaded accordingly, the right-hand barrel with the usual ball, but the
left carrying one of Devisme's explosive cartridges. Not able to detect
anything wrong in the trampled ground, still the cautious creature would
not tread on it, but circling round, broke her way through the bush,
coming, as she did so, on the carcass of the dead panther. This she
examined very carefully, turning it over with her trunk, and it