Adventure Magazine Cover — page 116: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

106 night were awakened from their sleep by the®loud cries of the natives, the report of guns and shrill trumpetings of pain as a bullet found its mark. The big bull, the leader of the herd, seemed to rise out of the ground directly in front of the Major and threshed about in savage indecision with his trunk. Just as the Major was about to fire Um- wese came dashing through the under- growth, hard chased by the angry bull. The Major pivoted quickly and fired. It was a head shot. As if struck by a mighty pole- ax, the big beast swerved in his tracks and toppled over, dead. “Quick, baas,”’ said Jim. is going to charge.” - The Major took the rifle Jim put into his hands. “T’m going to try the ‘knee halter’,” he drawled in English, then fired. The bull nearly fell as the bullet struck in the knee-joint; then, trumpeting. shrilly with pain, he turned in his tracks and limped slowly away. “Quick; another shot!” exclaimed Jim. “Tt is enough.” “Umwese,” he said, addressing that crest- fallen but grateful hunter, ‘“‘bid the others to come here.” A long hail quickly summoned them, elated at the success of the hunt; for no less than five bulls had fallen. ‘“‘Thy crops are safe. Is it not so?” “Aye, white man. Yet the big bull still “The big one lives. They will come again.” “Not so. His leg is broken. There is naught for him to do but die. No longer can he run with the herd.” “That is true, white man. Yet he still lives, and his tusks are mighty and his hide of great value to us. Let us therefore follow and kill him.” “Not so. I have said he was my meat. Now go ye back to the kraal and tell of thy prowess. Bring all the people hither that they may witness with their own eyes what thou hast done. “And now,” said the Major, speaking in English as he was wont to do when alone with Jim, ‘we'll find out where the old chap- pie at the kraal got his ivory.” “Vah, baas,” assented Jim. kill the big bull.” “You’re a rum codger, Jim,” mused the Major. ‘You want me to kill the old fel- low because he’s got a big pair of tusks. I “But first Adventure want him to live long enough to show us where there are hundreds of tusks.” “Vah, baas!” “Now we will follow him, but slowly,” .as Jim started off on the spoor at a run, “be- cause U I don’t| want to hurry the old fellow.”’ Though the elephant had had a good thirty minutes’ start it did not take them long to catch up with him, so handicapped was he with his crippled knee. And once the trailers caught up with him it was no difficult matter to keep to his trail. Though at times he was hidden from their sight, lost—giant of the forest though he was —among the thickly leaved trees and creep- ing vines, his spoor was plain in the soft ground, and always they could hear the crashing of his huge bulk and the snapping of branches which he tore down in his rage. For a time he followed the trail taken by the fleeing herd, of which he had once been the prideful leader. Where the trail crossed a small spruit he stopped for a while. He stopped perchance to give his crippled leg a rest, perchance to send a silent farewell to the herd which had forsaken him. Cer- tain it was that his stopping had nothing of indecision in it. He trumpeted once; then, slowly turning, followed the course of the small stream. The trail now was hard, leading as it did up-hill, and was strewn with boulders. Here he had much ado to keep his footing, hamp- ered as he was by the broken leg which he trailed painfully on the ground. At first he essayed to make his way easier by removing with his trunk some of the smaller boulders. But evidently the process was too slow, and he soon gave it up. At a shallow pool in a hollow of some rocks he filled his trunk with water and squirted it on his wounded leg. This seemed to revive him and he went on for a while at a faster gait, so that the two men had to break into a run in order to keep up with him. He now left the course of the spruit, which skirted—as they now saw—the base of a rocky hill, and picked his way among the big boulders. He headed directly up the gently sloping sides of the hill toward the top, which was fringed with a queer rock formation. Sheer up from the ground stood the reef, some thirty feet in height, forming a solid, impassable barrier. Eomichoo EN S O) (E(@)