When they were well rested, they got up, shouldered their packs and started out on the route Mabuza had shown them. A narrow footpath ran close to the water's edge, through dense undergrowth. Here and there they had to clamber over fallen branches, but they moved without much difficulty.

"I hope we can cross the river at the ford. I think the water level might be higher than usual after last night's rain," said Francis.

"Oh, I'm sure Frank would have noticed if it was too high," said Alice. "There doesn't seem to be much he doesn't notice. We suddenly seem to be half blind without him. I hope there aren't snakes or leopards or something here."

"Not to worry. Eugene will warn us, I think." At the sound of Laura's voice, the dog looked at her and wagged his stumpy tail, then turned back to the path, his sensitive nose constantly twitching. Even the slightest smell, unnoticed by human noses, told him entire stories, in much the same way that animal tracks told Mabuza stories.

They moved around a slight bend in the river. Up ahead, they could see flat stones stacked through a shallow part of the river.

"Ah, I think that's the ford Frank told us about," said Francis. "Er, he didn't mention anything about crocodiles, did he?"

They all stopped and looked at the river in front of them. On either side of the ford were deep, green pools, that suddenly looked menacing. Was that bit there a floating piece of log, or the head of a crocodile lying in wait for careless travelers?

"Let me have a look," said Alice. "Hand me the binoculars, would you Francis?"

She took the small field binoculars from her brother and scanned across both pools.

"I don't see anything. Anyway, I'm sure Frank would have warned us if there was any danger here."

Francis shrugged. "Only one way to find out then," he said, and started to walk across the river.

The crossing went without any troubles, and soon they were on the other side, moving up an incline and away from the river. As the path took them further from the water, the dense vegetation thinned out a bit, and they could see more of the country around them. They didn't talk much, so as not to scare away any wildlife that might be near.

This soon paid off when they saw a magnificent kudu bull glide through the bush, its majestic horns held proudly aloft. They also noticed a profusion of birds, and all the wildlife seemed quite tame and unafraid of humans.

As they emerged from the riverine bush, the area became flatter and movement easier. The footpath was covered in tracks of animals, and they often stopped to examine these. They soon found out that while it was not easy to make any sense of the tracks, these cryptic marks on their path held a peculiar fascination. Now that Mabuza had shown them just how much could potentially be read in animal tracks, they looked at a footprint with new eyes, as if at a book written in some unknown script.

"Look, some kind of dog. Or a cat. Or mongoose." Lauren grinned ruefully at her own lack of knowledge. She wished they had Mabuza there. If they could not even identify the animal that made a track, how could they hope to glean anything else from it?

Alice and Francis kneeled next to her to look at the track, a small print looking like that made by a dog.

"But I see no claw marks, so perhaps it is a more cat-like animal?" Francis seemed to have a flair for this. "I think it might be a .. hey, look over there!"

He pointed some way further up the footpath. And there it was, quite unmistakable: a human footprint. It was that of an adult who was wearing shoes or boots, and looked quite fresh.

They crowded around it, wondering where it could have come from.

"It looks quite fresh," said Alice. "Perhaps not older than maybe two days or so?"

"Perhaps Frank left this the day before we arrived?" Lauren guessed.

"It rained last night," said Francis. "This track can't have been made before early this morning at the earliest. Unless Frank's in the habit of slinking around here in the middle of the night, this track isn't his."

"There is something else about it that is strange," said Alice. "Whoever made this track wasn't walking down this footpath. Look, the track is perpendicular to the direction of the path. If we look next to the path, we might see more."

They looked, and indeed, at several spots to both sides of the path, they could see more of the boot prints.

"I think we should report this to Uncle Vernon when we get back. Then Frank can follow these tracks to wherever they lead. Let's leave them undisturbed, and mark this spot so we can find it again." Francis took out his handkerchief and tied it to a thorn bush next to the path.

"Well, not much more we can do here right now," he said. They carefully stepped over the tracks and continued their walk. Some way ahead of them, they could see the hill Mabuza had directed them to. It was a small rocky outcrop, with huge granite boulders and partially covered in trees and shrubs.

"Let's find some shade up there and rest a while," Alice suggested. "The view should be quite spectacular."

When they reached the hill, they started making their way carefully upwards, moving between boulders the size of a house, until they reached a flat area shaded by an ancient wild fig, its exposed roots seeming to flow over and between rocky crevices like soft, white dough.

They stretched themselves out on the rock, and looked out over the subtropical bush that lay in front of them. The view was even better than they had imagined. Far off in the distance, they could make out the roof of Uncle Vernon's house, but that was about the only sign of civilization to be seen.

"It's a pity we can't stay here long. It's getting late," said Francis.

Alice nodded, but said nothing. She was intently combing the whole area with the help of the binoculars. Laura was sipping from a water bottle, and then, noticing the way in which Eugene watched her, she took out a small dish and poured some water for the dog, who lapped it up eagerly.

In the late afternoon heat, they could hear the mournful cooing of wood doves, and once, the harsh 'krok-krok-krok' of a lourie. They heard wings flapping, and watched the large, brightly coloured bird making its way through the tree tops in flashes of green, scarlet and purple.

"Ah, this is about as good as it gets," sighed Francis contentedly. "Hey, let me have a bit of a look through the binoculars, Alice. We'll end up having to surgically remove them from your face."

Alice laughed and handed Francis the binoculars. He looked down towards their right.

"Ah, there I can see the path that will take us home," he said, pointing to a narrow strip visible among the trees. "I think I can see where it gets down to the river, but I can't see the little bridge Frank mentioned. It's hidden in the trees."

"Hey, what's that down there?" Laura was pointing to a spot not far from the path they had followed from the river. Something big and grey could be seen moving among the trees and shrubs.

Francis looked that way through the binoculars and gasped. "It's an elephant!" he exclaimed. "We passed right by it, and we never saw it. But where would it have come from? As far as I know, Uncle Vernon doesn't keep elephants here."

He handed the binoculars to the two girls so that they could have a look.

"I suppose it's from Matumi Sands next door. Perhaps there is a hole in the fence somewhere." Alice was looking intently at the huge animal. "Hmm, it looks like it might be hurt. Look how it seems to be limping along, and I'm pretty sure I see a streak of blood down its right front leg."

Laura took the binoculars and had a look, then handed them to Francis.

"You're right, I can see it too. I wonder if it got in a fight. Or might it be yet another victim of the poachers?"

"We should go report this to Uncle Vernon as well. And I think we should be getting along. We still have quite some way to walk, and I really don't want to run into a wounded elephant. Look, it's slowly moving right towards where we are going to pass. Let's get going." Alice was already shouldering her backpack as she spoke, and Francis and Laura followed suit.

They were just beginning to find their way down the hill, when somewhere behind them, a gunshot went off, echoing across the bush and sending birds fluttering into the air in fright. They froze in their tracks.