Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1919-12-05

thaI w SungoS lmpatience seemed to
be dying down, and said so.
"Oh," he explained, there's no great
hurry. We aren't after antelope, you
know. Three out of every five ele-
plants shot are killed at the noon hour.
If the one we are after Is travelling,
Wen Lever, never see him, for he IL
think nothing of ninety miles as a
days stroll. If he's feeding, and
that's the probability in this case,
we'll come up with him at the heat
of the day under big tree doing and
lazily flaming himself with his ears"
The country across the river was a
contrast to anything Andrea had seen.
1t was what M'sungo called NANCY
totally bare in spots and breaking out
In others into thorn thickets or cases
OF thick brush. Farther upstream was
a forest of high straight trees, much
higher than the tembas, but inland
this towering growth suddenly fell to
a low level of bush that cut a gray
line along the horizon. The band of
gray was broken here and there by
thC OidCh uOIuS VI tree.
M'sungo followed the direction of
Andrea's eyes. "That long gray patch"
he said, "that's elephant bush, but
Lord knows when We'll get there"
The wizened men led them upstream
and soon they were In the deep shade
of the high forest, but not for long.
In ten minutes they traversed 1t, for
1t was nothing blu: a tongue, a long
screen extending from elephant bush
to river. Scarcely had they left it's
shelter when the three hunters paused
and with them M'sungo. Andrea
pressed forward.
The soggy ground was pock-marked
with great holes of varying sizes; the
smallest foot in circumference, the
largest, three. "Females and young
sters," murmured Msungo in explana-
ton, "all trash" He stood quite still,
his eyes travelling rapidly over wide
radius, pausing suddenly when the
tracker thoughtfully touched a grass
blade with his toe or another boy SOL
emnly measured spoor with his feet
placed one ahead Of the other, looked
up inquiringly and retired in confusion
of the kindly sneer on the faces of the
hunters.
"Why are you waitingi'' asked An
drea impatiently.
M'sungo flashed a look at her.
"Waiting?" he whispered. "We're not
waiting. Every man here, according
to his lights, is reading. You saw
that cheeky gunbearer measure a
spoor and then withdraw with hang
dog look. He thought he had spotted
a male bull. He has made himself
ridiculous for year. Tonight you'll
hear the camp telling the joke on him
over and over again. But the tracKer
touches a blade of grass bent one way
with his toe and presently you'll see
him with a twig broken in the 0ppo-
site direction. There he goes now.
He looks as if he were day-dreaming,
doesn't hep
Andrea nodded.
"Well, he isn't" continued Msungo.
"By now he has read the whole story.
He knows how many females made
this mess of q trail and how many
young. He knows when they came
and when they went. He could fill in
their stay with dozen incidents, each
one complete in itself, such as where
youngster slipped, fell, sQuealed and
got spanked by his mother. But such
trimmings of details impress them
selves only on his subconscious mind.
In reality his whole attention is fixed
on the main chance. BY the season of
the year he knows that this herd is not
travelling alone. The track of the
males is nearby. If we didn't have
the three old hunters we would go up
the bank of the river until we struck
1t, but we don't have to because they
found it by chance this morning at the
first streak of dawn"
While he talked, the tracker stud.
led, the three wizened sat aloof, taking
snuff. Now, at nod from M'sungo
they arose an6 proceeded swiftly
along the margin of the big trees
Presently they swerved to the left and
plunged through underground to q
well-marked path. In the fine dust
of that runway Andrea saw. the iden.
teal monster spoor that the old black
had drawn with his finger on the
ground beside her breakfast table.
Another halt was called. The track.