152 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



(They're running away). At the same instant 

 I caught a ghmpse of the outhne of a huge grey 

 mass that was passing at a half walk, half run, 

 not more than thirty yards from us. The sharp- 

 scented brute was not in full flight, and had 

 probably only got the merest whiff of tainted 

 wind, but there was not an instant to lose, so, seizing 

 my gun and holding it in both hands, the muzzle 

 pointed forwards, ready to be raised to my shoulder 

 at a moment's notice, I dashed through the jungle as 

 fast as possible in order to intercept the elephant I 

 had seen and give him a shot in the shoulder at close 

 quarters. In this way, only thinking of the one I 

 had already seen, I ran almost under the tusks of 

 another huge old bull that, still unconscious of any 

 danger, was standing, head on to me, behind a dense 

 bush. On hearing the rustling I made, he raised 

 his head and trunk, showing a fine thick pair of tusks, 

 and at the same time spreading his enormous ears 

 stared hard with his vicious-looking eyes towards 

 where I stood. Now was my chance : scarcely half 

 a dozen yards separated us, and as his head was raised, 

 and he held his trunk high in the air, moving it 

 quietly backwards and forwards to try and get my 

 wind, his whole chest was exposed ; so quickly bring- 

 ing my gun to my shoulder, and aiming tor the heart, 

 I fired. The heavy recoil turned me right round, 

 and when I again faced about, the elephant had 

 vanished in the dense bush. However, I felt sure he 

 would not go very far with such a wound, so bidding 

 the Bushman, who was now beside me, to run on the 

 spoor, I lost no time in following him, and after 

 threading our way for a couple of hundred yards or 

 so through the jungle, running as fast as circumstances 

 would allow, we once more came up with him. He 



