With FlaslilidU and RiHc 



"^ 



A large elephant may sometimes be brought down 

 by another shot, as tor instance a shot which brcnks a 

 bone of the leg, but this is onl\- possible at vcm-\- close 

 range with a rifle of very heavy calibre. I he most 



experienced hunters are agreed that the smack of a 

 heavy-calibre bullet is more ai)t to make an elei)hant 

 take to (light when not mortally wounded than is the 

 stab of the small calil)re, though this mav be more deadlv 

 in its after-eflect. 



But in the huntino^ of hlgr trame of this kind, above all 

 in the case of elephants, luck plays a very conspicuous 

 ro/f. In several cases the deadly effect of shots I myself 

 have fired has only showm itself w-hen the animals have 

 almost come near enough to kill me. ]Many have been 

 the elephant-hunters who have been killed by the Tembo 

 they themselves have been hunting ! 



The more one comes into touch with African elephants 

 the more one is on one's gujird. The hunter can never 

 know what an elephant may not be up to the next moment 

 — a fact with which trainers and keepers ot Zoological 

 Gardens also have to reckon. 



I shall never forget how for days together I waited 

 on the top of a hill watching elephants, and waiting in 

 vain f )r the sunshine without whicli I could not get good 

 photograj)hs of them. As soon as 1 had succeeded in 

 this th(; moment seemed at last to ha\e come when I 

 might kill the two bull elephants in question. 1 had had 

 several templing chances alread\ that 1 had resisted. 

 Leaving the hills, accompanied bv some ol tlu; most 

 resolute ol mv men, I crept down 1)\- somc^ narrow 



194 



