what they said about hunting the elephants any further, for before I had
finished my coffee they came to me in a body, and said that if I wanted
to follow those elephants I must follow them myself, for they would not
go.

"I argued with them, and affected to be much put out. The elephants were
close at hand, I said; I was sure of it; I had heard them trumpet in the
night.

"'Yes,' answered the men mysteriously, 'they too had heard things in the
night, things not nice to hear; they had heard the spooks out shooting,
and no longer would they remain in a country so vilely haunted.'

"'It was nonsense,' I replied. 'If ghosts went out shooting, surely
they would use air-guns and not black powder, and one would not hear
an air-gun. Well, if they were cowards, and would not come, of course
I could not force them to, but I would make a bargain with them. They
should follow those elephants for one half-hour more, then if we failed
to come upon them I would abandon the pursuit, and we would go straight
to Wambe, chief of the Matuku, and give him hongo.'

"To this compromise the men agreed readily. Accordingly about
half-an-hour later we struck our camp and started, and notwithstanding
my aches and bruises, I do not think that I ever felt in better spirits
in my life. It is something to wake up in the morning and remember that
in the dead of the night, single-handed, one has given battle to and
overthrown three of the largest elephants in Africa, slaying them with
three bullets. Such a feat to my knowledge had never been done before,
and on that particular morning I felt a very 'tall man of my hands'
indeed. The only thing I feared was, that should I ever come to tell