King Solomon's Mines

ukanga and Kalukwe Rivers. It was a journey of more than a thousand miles from Durban, the last three hundred or so of which we had t

adventures on the way were many and various, but as they are of the sort which befall every African hunter-with on

of the beautiful span of twenty which I had bought at Durban. One we lost from the bite of a cobra, three had perished from "poverty" and the want of water, one strayed, and the other three died from eating the po

ot upon our wild quest. I remember we were all a little silent on the occasion of this departure, and I think that each of us was wondering if we should ever see our wagon again; for my part I never expected to do so. For a while we tramped on in silence, till Umbopa, who was marching in front, broke into a Zulu chant about how s

dignified sort of way, when he was not suffering from one of his fits of brooding, a

hich I am going to treat myself, f

aces, with the "wacht-een-beche," or "wait-a-little thorn," and there were great quantities of the lovely "machabell" tree, laden with refreshing yellow fruit having enormous stones. This tree is the elephant's favourit

however, were to be found pools of crystal water all trodden round with the hoof-prints of game. Facing this hill was a park-like plain, wher

were about three hundred yards from us, and therefore practically out of shot, but Good, who was walking ahead, and who had an express loaded with solid ball in his hand, could not resist temptation. Lifting his gun, he let drive a

using strong language when excited-contracted, no doubt, in

ejaculated the

wan," or Glass Eye, be

as a marvellous shot was established, at any rate among the Kafirs. Really he wa

bout a hundred yards to its right. This is done by cutting a quantity of thorn bushes and piling them in the shape of a circular hedge.

de squatting there round the fire. I, with my short grizzled hair sticking up straight, and Sir Henry with his yellow locks, which were getting rather long, were rather a contrast, especially as I am thin, and short, and dark, weighing only nine stone and a half, and Sir Henry is tall, and broad, and fair, and weighs fifteen. But perhaps the most curious-looking of the three, taking all the circumstances of the case into consideration, was Captain John Good, R.N. There he sat upon a lea

my astonishment at the fact; "and I always like to turn out like a gentleman

of which the mouthpiece was made of the horn of an eland, till one by one they rolled themselves up in their blankets and went to sleep by the fire, that

so, when from the pool, about a hundred yards off, we heard the strident trumpeting of an elephant. "Unkungunklovo! Indlovu!" "Elephant! Elephant!" whi

that it was as easy to kill elephant as he had found it to s

" I whispered,

. I vote we stop here a day or two, and hav

specially since we ascertained at Inyati that about two years ago an Englishman of the name of Neville had sol

elephants; and so, to speak the truth, did I, for it went against my

reation. And now let's turn in, for we ought to be off by dawn,

is trousers pocket, and folding each article neatly, placed it out of the dew under a corner of his mackintosh sheet. Sir Henry and I contented o

ng, go-Wha

noise as that. We all jumped up and looked towards the water, in the direction of which we saw a confused mass, yellow and black in colour, staggering and struggling towards us. We seized our rifles, and slipping on our ve

happened was this: The sable antelope had come down to drink at the pool where the lion-no doubt the same which we had heard-was lying in wait. While the antelope drank, the lion had sprung upon him, only to be received upon the sharp

afirs, and between us managed to drag their carcases up to the sch

water-bottles, filled with weak cold tea, which I have always found the best stuff to shoot on. After swallowing a little breakfast we started, Umbop

ty and thirty elephants, most of them full-grown bulls. But the herd had moved on some way during the night, and it was nine o'clock, and

andful of dry grass, I threw it into the air to see how the wind was; for if once they winded us I knew they would be off before we could get a shot. Finding that, if anything, it blew from the elephants to us, we crept on stealthily, and thanks to the cover managed to get within

I whi

s brought him down in good earnest. Hastily slipping in two fresh cartridges I ran close up to him, and a ball through the brain put an end to the poor brute's struggles. Then I turned to see how Good had fared with the big bull, which I had heard screaming with rage and pain as I gave mine its quietus. On reaching the captain

thinking that we had seen the last of those big tusks. I have often wished since that we had. It was easy work to follow the elephants, for t

probably start them off again if we tried to get nearer, especially as the ground was rather open, we all aimed at this bull, and at my whispered word, we fired. The three shots took effect, and down he went dead. Again the herd started, but unfortunately for them about a hundred yards further on was a nullah, or dried-out water track, with steep banks, a place very much resembling the one where the Prince Imperial was killed in Zululand. Into this the elephants plunged, and when we reached the edge we found them struggling in wild confusion t

dead elephants for supper, we started homewards, very well pleased with our day's wo

ast us, and then stopped behind a little patch of bush about a hundred yards away, wheeling round to look at us. As Good was anxious to get a near view of them, never having seen

s us with the wounded bull-for it was he-charging after them. For a moment we did not dare to fire-though at that distance it would have been of little use if we had done so-for fear of hitting one of them, and the next a dreadful thing happened-Good fell a victim to his passion for civilised dress. Had he consented to discard his trousers an

conds it had ended, but not as we thought. Khiva, the Zulu boy, saw his master fall, and brave lad

to the earth, and placing one huge foot on to his body about the

again and again, till presently the elep

to save him, and, though I am an old hand, I felt a lump grow in my throat. Umbop

esently, "he is dead,