84 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



stopped to reload, he had lost sight of him for a 

 moment, and so running on the spoor with eyes bent 

 on the ground, had got almost under the brute's very 

 tusks before he saw him, as the elephant, having 

 turned and waited behind a bush, let him come quite 

 close, and then rushing out, had kept him literally 

 under his trunk for about a hundred yards, and would 

 no doubt have eventually caught him if he had not 

 been so weakened by. his previous wounds. In his 

 flight he had thrown the gun and assegais away, and 

 he must indeed have had a miraculous escape, for his 

 back and the calves ot his legs had drops of blood 

 upon them, that could only have come from the trunk 

 of the elephant. The two other Kafirs who were 

 near him, and had bolted on seeing the elephant 

 charge, now coming up, I told them to take the spoor, 

 that we might get the gun and then despatch him, as 

 I was sure he was not far off. After picking up the 

 gun and the assegais (one of which had been trodden 

 on and smashed by the elephant), we took up the 

 spoor, and, as I had predicted, had not gone far before 

 we saw him walking slowly along, the blood dripping 

 from his trunk, looking very sick — though he would 

 very likely have tried another charge if he had got 

 the chance, as sometimes they are game to the very 

 last, and have been known to fall dead whilst in the 

 act of charging. I now ran a little wide of him, in a 

 half-circle, and getting in front waited for him, and 

 as he passed gave him a ball, at about twenty yards' 

 distance, through the heart. Directly the bullet 

 struck him he broke into a run, and, after going for 

 about a hundred yards, fell with a crash stone dead, 

 bringing a small tree down in his fall. 



On examination this proved to be the finest of 

 the three, his teeth weighing ^^ lbs. and 57 lbs. 



