XXII "NOW THEN!" 479 



but showed two long, even, white tusks, projecting 

 far beyond the lip. " Wait till they get square and 

 then shoot the second one," 1 said to my friend ; 

 " I will take the one in tront." In another moment 

 they were broadside to us, and not over fifty yards 

 off. " Now then ! " I whispered, and we fired almost 

 simultaneously. I ought to have shot my bull right 

 through the heart, but my rifle was a most execrable 

 weapon (the one before mentioned), upon which no 

 dependence whatever could be placed ; so that I 

 never knew whether to attribute the loss ot an 

 animal to my own bad shooting or to the fault of 

 my rifle. Like lightnincj the o-reat brutes swunjy 

 themselves round on their hind-legs, and went ofi^ 

 at top speed, we following at our best pace. Jame- 

 son's elephant was probably but little the worse for 

 the two expanding Express bullets that he carried 

 in his ribs, and mine appeared to be equally lively. 

 As my friend waited, shouting and cursing, for the 

 Kafir to come up with his big rifle, I got on ahead, 

 and soon found myself alone with my gun-carrier 

 April, a strong active Makalaka, and a Matabele 

 boy named Jonas. After a severe run ot half a 

 mile or so, the elephants settled to a steadier pace, 

 anci we, going at a smart trot, began again to over- 

 haul them. Soon I was not more than eighty yards 

 astern of them, April in close attendance, and Jonas, 

 who had run a little wide, ranging up level with 

 them. " Tiba, tiba, Jonas ! " I shouted, upon which 

 he, a Kafir who understands elephant-shooting, made 

 a spurt, and, when level with the foremost, shouted 

 as loud as he could yell ; at the first shout the 

 elephants wheeled quickly away from the sound, 

 giving me, who had run a little wide of them on 

 the opposite side in expectation of this move, a 



