noon
`` They are poor ignorant savages , '' he remarked , `` who have not the advantage of living with white men . '' The storm swept by , and the poor people were satisfied that their shooting had driven it away . Next morning , inspanning at an early hour , we proceeded in the direction we concluded the elephants had taken . While camping at noon , some of the natives who had gone on ahead as scouts , brought us the satisfactory intelligence that the herd were feeding in a wood about eight miles off ; and that as a stream ran by , they were certain to go down to drink in the evening ; when , if we took proper measures , we should be able to kill as many more as we wanted . We lost no time , therefore , in proceeding onward , and as the ground was pretty level we made good progress . We camped at a part of the stream where we could draw water ; and where , from the rocky character of the bank , the elephants were not likely to come down and drink . On one side it was a swamp , between which and our camp we could leave our horses at liberty to feed , one or two men only being required to watch them .