XV BISON, BEAR, AND ELEPHANT 181 



We got to our ground, and while the shikaris 

 were reconnoitring, D.-D. heard the elephant 

 below us. For elephant and bison shooting acute 

 hearing is a really important asset to the hunter. 



After some reconnaissance we closed for action, 

 D.-D. having replaced the shikaris and conduct- 

 ing the stalk. The elephant was in a deep 

 ravine, bordered on the one hand by an open 

 hillside and on the other by a big patch of eter. 

 The col was covered with man-high grass and was 

 the intercepting feature between the elephant's 

 present cover and the heavy jungle and eter of 

 a big valley on the far side. 



We got close to the elephant and could see 

 him, but I could get no clear view of his head. He 

 moved up the ravine, so we climbed a little and 

 worked forward to intercept him ; but the 

 elephant had got a touch of our wind and was 

 moving on fast. D.-D. turned out of the ravine 

 and climbed along the grassy crest towards the 

 col. We were " all-out," with our wind tested to 

 the utmost. 



D.-D. heard the elephant, and signalled to me 

 to hurry up. A last effort landed us in an open 

 patch of grassy hill with some rocks. As the 

 elephant's head appeared out of the cover we 

 threw ourselves down. He was moving at a 

 steady walk up to the col to cross to the next 

 valley. He was seventy yards away and the 

 whole of his head showed above the grass. An 

 earlier reconnaissance by one of the shikaris, from 

 a tree, had satisfied all doubts as to his tusks. 

 I got a quick shot and hit him through the brain, 

 for he reared up on the steep slope and fell over 



