At last it was done. The ivory was far too cumbersome for us to carry,
so we buried it, having first got rid of our bushmen allies. My boys
wanted me to go back to the Cape with it and sell it, but I was too much
bent on my journey to do this. The tusks lay buried for five years. Then
I came and dug them up; they were but little harmed. Ultimately I sold
the ivory for something over twelve hundred pounds--not bad pay for one
day's shooting.

This was how I began my career as an elephant hunter. I have shot many
hundreds of them since, but have never again attempted to do so on
horseback.



CHAPTER IV

THE ZULU IMPI

After burying the elephant tusks, and having taken careful notes of the
bearings and peculiarities of the country so that I might be able to
find the spot again, we proceeded on our journey. For a month or more
I trekked along the line which now divides the Orange Free State
from Griqualand West, and the Transvaal from Bechuanaland. The
only difficulties met with were such as are still common to African
travellers--occasional want of water and troubles about crossing sluits
and rivers. I remember that I outspanned on the spot where Kimberley now
stands, and had to press on again in a hurry because there was no water.
I little dreamed then that I should live to see Kimberley a great
city producing millions of pounds worth of diamonds annually, and old