VI "THIS DAY YOU'RE BEWITCHED" 117 



had shouted he would have come at once, for he could 

 not have been very tar off ; but had I done so, the 

 elephant might either have charged or else continued 

 his flight, neither of which alternatives did I desire. 

 After a short time, seeing no chance of aid arriving, 

 and my nerves having got a little steadier, I took my 

 favourite gun from Nuta, and, resting my elbow on 

 my knee, took a quiet pot shot. I was, however, 

 still very unsteady even in this position, but I do not 

 think the bullet could have struck very far from the 

 right place. The elephant on receiving the shot made a 

 rush forwards, crashing through the bushes at a quick 

 walk, so that we had to run at a hard trot to keep him 

 in sight. He now seemed very vicious, for, hearing 

 a dry branch snap, he turned and ran towards us, 

 and then stood with his ears up, feeling about in all 

 directions with his trunk to try and get our wind. 



Nuta, who up to this day had always been a most 

 staunch and plucky gun-bearer, now seemed seized with 

 a panic, and refused to bring me the gun any more, 

 calling out, " Leave the elephant, sir ; this day 

 you're bewitched, and will surely be killed." How- 

 ever, as the elephant was evidently very severely 

 wounded, I had no idea of giving over the chase as 

 long as I could keep up, and, after bestowing a few 

 Anglo-Saxon idioms upon Nuta, I again ran on. 

 The bush now became very thick, and, as the elephant 

 was going straight away, I could not get a chance of 

 a shot. About a mile farther on, however, we came 

 to one of those large open turf flats which occur 

 here and there in the midst of the sinangas. It was 

 quite a mile square, and perfectly bare, with the 

 exception of a few large camel-thorn trees, which 

 were scattered about in clumps. On reaching this 

 opening, the elephant, instead of turning back into 



