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Then I understood; the Impi was following the track of the waggons, which, in all probability, belonged to a party of emigrant Boers. The spoor of the waggons ran in the direction I wished to go, so I followed it. About a mile further on I came to the crest of a rise, and there, about five furlongs away, I saw the waggons drawn up in a rough laager upon the banks of the river.
These walked last in case any of the mixed-bloods should attempt to desert, as we thought it quite probable that they would. Less than an hour's tramp brought us to the bush-veld where I feared that our troubles might begin, since if the Amahagger were cunning, they would take advantage of it to confuse or hide their spoor.
"We are making a very fair commencement in the way of adventures," said he, after relating his own experiences of the day, "but so far our expedition has been anything but profitable." "We must go farther down the river," said Willem. "We have not yet seen the spoor of either hippopotamus or giraffe. We must keep moving until we come upon them.
Taking a course along the edge of the forest, that would bring them across the track made by Arend in reaching the place where the horse had strayed, the spoor of Arend's horse as well as the other's was discovered. The tracks of both were followed into the forest, along well-beaten path, evidently made by buffaloes and other animals passing to and from the river.
"Out for exercise, that's all." This discretion was most commendable, for in our mixed forces spying must have been easy and frequent. We pitched tent for the night, and at three the next morning saddled our horses and followed the spoor of the commando. Presently, encountering a Kafir holding half a dozen horses, we asked him where the owners were.
The fork wasn't, I suppose, more than a score of feet from the ground. It was a safe enough place from a tiger, and that is what we expected. We had been misled by our tracker, who had mistaken the pugs of a big leopard for a tiger's, they were over rocky ground for the most part and he had only the spoor of a chance patch of half-dried mud to go upon.
And then the humbled coolies went back to look at the spoor again, and there they saw, after a close scrutiny, the delicate tracing of a little field-rat's feet over the mighty pugs of Stripes.
He too was but slightly wounded, a bullet, grazing his skull, having stunned him, so that when he regained consciousness he was apparently as fit as ever. The apes told Tarzan that they had been traveling toward the east when the scent spoor of the she had attracted them and they had stalked her.
As darkness settled a heavy rain set in, and there was nothing for the baffled ape-man to do but wait in the partial shelter of a huge tree until morning; but the coming of dawn brought no cessation of the torrential downpour. For a week the sun was obscured by heavy clouds, while violent rain and wind storms obliterated the last remnants of the spoor Tarzan constantly though vainly sought.
Next morning, two hours after daybreak, Félix, who was scouting just ahead of the column, came running back with news he had struck elephant spoor. Every tooth in his head told the tale. Not only spoor, but the spoor of a vast herd cutting right across the line of march. Berselius came forward to examine, and Adams came with him.
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