A group of black men with bows, arrows, and daggers was marching on the prairie,
facing the morning sun.
Golden suns.h.i.+ne shone down on them, and in the light of their footsteps, silhouettes
snaked along the plain.
Li Du, who was at the back of the line, asked Cheeks, "Where are we going now? It"s
not like we"re just walking around, waiting to come upon prey, is it?"
"Not exactly. We"re walking around, but instead of waiting for prey to come to us, we"re
looking for its habitat," said Cheeks.
After walking for more than half an hour, they found a stretch of bush.
At this, the hunters exchanged excited smiles and muttered a few words to one another.
Four or five of them broke off from the party and crept closer to the bushes, while the
others moved on.
The Hadzas left the column in droves, but not all went on together. They divided their
forces along the way, trying to find as much food as possible.
There were many birds living in the bushes on the gra.s.sland, and the hunters went to
find some.
Cheeks handed Li Du a bow and two arrows, and together they crept close to the bush.
Li Du had his own bow and crossbow in the black hole s.p.a.ce of the little bug, but at this
time it was inconvenient to take them out, so he temporarily used the Hadza bow.
As he had seen earlier in the morning, the Hadza made their bows themselves, of rather
coa.r.s.e material.
There was no bamboo in Africa. The bow body was made of polished wood.
Some of the bowstrings were made from hemp ropes, and some came from supple
animal tendons.
Their arrows, self-made as well, were divided into several categories, including blunt
ones for small animals like birds and wild mice that didn"t need to be killed straight
away.
Other arrows had metal arrowheads bought from the tatuagens. These were used to
shoot gazelles, deer, wild goats, and other small animals.
In addition, each hunter carried a stone arrow coated with poison, which was black all
over, and was used to attack large beasts of prey. The poison used was Antiaris.
The hunters approached the bushes carefully from all sides, but the wild birds within
were very alert and aware of the danger. They immediately flew away when they
sensed someone coming.
The hunters released their arrows one after another, and as the arrows flew out, the
birds were struck and fell down.
After the attack, the hunters began to harvest their kill. They collected the birds into a
large bag made of baboon skin. They also picked up the arrows and put them away.
The people were happy with this success.
"Perhaps we"ll have to keep inviting guests to the hunt. You"ve brought good luck,"
chuckled Cheeks.
Soon, however, the luck ran out.
Li Du kept going for about ten minutes when he saw a herd of elephants.
It was the first time for him to see a wild elephant. The animals were hundreds of meters
away, which gave a huge visual impact.
The hunters recoiled nervously at the sight of the wild elephants.
The herd was large, with more than a dozen elephants, two of which were females with
their calves. Except for the two calves, the elephants were all full-grown.
Seeing the hunters get nervous, Li Du said, "There is no need to be afraid of elephants,
is there? Can they attack as well?"
"The elephant is the most aggressive of beasts. Our tribe had been attacked by
elephants. I don"t know why. They dashed into our camp like maniacs," said Cheeks.
Li Du"s knowledge of elephants all came from TV programs, which were naturally very
different from reality. Wild elephants were not known for their good temper, and would
sometimes attack without any visible reason. If they were in a good mood, , they might
even allow people to touch them, but otherwise, any encounter could be lethal.
Unfortunately, elephants tended to be in a bad mood when faced with armed crowds.
When the group of people noticed the elephants, some elephants noticed them as well
and moved towards them with a hostile look.
Of course, Li Du could not read the expressions of elephants, nor could he know their
intentions, but when a wild animal was angry, a human could detect something strange.
As Cheeks prepared to run away with the men, he waved. "Bend down and run as fast
as you can! Just get out of their sight, and we"ll be safe."
With that, he was the first to take his own advice. He bent down and, crouching, ran
amidst the gra.s.s. It looked funny, but it was better than being trampled by a wild
elephant.
The four little ones looked at the elephant stupidly. This was the first time they saw an
elephant, and they were so stunned they forgot to run.
Li Du turned to them and shouted, "Aren"t you all going to retreat?"
Once they had taken a few steps, they suddenly heard the roar of a car engine.
The advancing elephants stopped, fanning their big ears and looking around.
Li Du stopped as well. A line of people looked at Brother Wolf and pointed to the side of
the road in front. "There!"
Two SUVs appeared in their view, driving at full speed.
The ground was relatively flat, but there were many ravines on the terrain. It was
dangerous for a car to go at full speed in these conditions.
The people in the car were aiming at the elephants, but they did not pay any attention to
the people in their way. Some hunters were unfortunate enough to stand in the wrong
place, and the car hit them directly.
In one case, Li Du was too far away from the hunter to react. Fortunately, Ah Ow was
running desperately for her life. She ran in front of the car and saw the upcoming crash.
In a quick move, she knocked away the stunned tribesman. The SUV drove across the
spot where he stood mere seconds ago.
Li Du was angry and relieved at the same time. He looked through the window of the
car and shouted, "d.a.m.n you!"
"Haha, a bunch of stupid n.i.g.g.e.rs!" Someone in the car laughed.
There was another cry from the back car, "Ahha, kill that elephant, its tusks are mine!"
Two cars came close to the elephants, stopping abruptly. Someone with a shotgun
jumped down, aimed at the elephant and fired.
A female elephant"s flesh was burst open, her blood splattered all over, and she whined
at the top of her lungs.
The male leader became angry and, with a jerk of his trunk, sprang forward.
In a flash, Li Du knew why Cheeks and the others were afraid of wild elephants: this
animal was not as gentle and clumsy as seen on TV, and could develop impressive
speed.
Elephants could run very fast, and they were huge. The impact of charging would be
terrible.
Li Du had never seen a tank, but he thought that a tank"s charging speed was nothing
compared to an elephant.
The people in the car had underestimated the wild elephants. They did not expect that
the normally slow animals would move with such force and charge so fast.
The driver of the car frantically grabbed the steering wheel to escape, the three people
who got out to shoot were pale with terror and quickly climbed back into the car,
scrambling and looking as though their legs had gone wobbly with fright.
One SUV swerved and sped away, the other took a similar turn, but it was unlucky. One
of its front wheels sank into a hole in the gra.s.sland!