IX ANOTHER ELEPHANT SHOT 171 



was curved right up in a semicircle, the other, which 

 was shorter, stood straight out. It seemed strange 

 as I watched him Winlcing his sharp twinkhng eyes, 

 and quietly munching the bundles of leaves that he 

 kept conveying to his mouth with his trunk, that he 

 should be so utterly unconscious ot my presence. 

 However, it was now time to act, so waiting till he 

 again raised his trunk, I aimed so that the bullet 

 should pass through the top of his heart and up into 

 the lungs, and fired. On receiving the shot he 

 recoiled on to his haunches, but recovering, spun 

 round and went off at a great pace, using his game 

 leg as though there were nothing the matter with it, 

 and followed his young companion, a glimpse of 

 whose hind-quarters I just caught disappearing through 

 the bush. With such a wound I knew he would not 

 go far, and he soon settled down into a walk, so 

 running in front ot him, I gave him a second ball in 

 the shoulder as he passed, when he stopped, and after 

 swaying backwards and forwards, and breaking all 

 the bushes within reach, he sank slowly down, leaning 

 against a small tree, which his weight, though bend- 

 ing it double, was not sufficient to break, so that he 

 died thus, half propped up, with his head quite loose, 

 and neither of his tusks resting on the ground. The 

 Kafirs, now coming up in hot haste, were much 

 surprised to find the elephant already dead, and I set 

 them to work at once to chop out the tusks. One 

 of these, as I have said, was curved to a remarkable 

 degree, and when extracted from the skull, described 

 considerably more than a half-circle, the other being 

 absolutely straight. They were both within a pound 

 of the same weight, scaling nearly 40 lbs. apiece. 

 As the sun was not yet two hours high, I chopped 

 out the tusks at once, and after burying them at the 



