THE ELEPHANT, THE GIANT OF THE FOREST 



quickly for the center of his head in a Hne a Httle above 

 the eyes, and pulled the trigger ! Before the sound of the 

 gun had died away, the forest giant lay dead at my very 

 feet ! I was so surprised at the quick execution of the bul- 

 let that I remained standing for a moment or two with the 

 gun at my shoulder, ready to fire the second barrel if the 

 elephant had moved again, but it was all over with him 

 forever ! 



My two men had rushed right and left into the jungle, 

 when the elephant charged. They and the other natives, 

 previously left behind, now came up to congratulate me 

 on having had so good luck. The reaction of the moment's 

 nerve strain was tremendous. Just when the elephant 

 charged down on us I was as calm as when writing these 

 lines, and to that and my quick aim is due the fact that 

 I live to tell the tale ; but after it was all over, sitting down 

 on one of the tusks of the fallen monarch, I felt quite dizzy 

 for a moment, and noticed a slight tremor of the hands. 



We soon had made a little clearing to enable me to make 

 some good photographs of the dead elephant. Although 

 my taxidermist, Mr. Lang, and a good many more men 

 had been brought up from the camp, it was impossible for 

 us to finish skinning the huge beast that day. We, there- 

 fore, left a number of men at the place to sleep overnight 

 by the carcass, and to make a big fire to keep away the 

 lions and leopards, which otherwise would have spoiled 

 the skin. 



The next day was the " glorious Fourth," and, as Mr. 

 Lang volunteered to take the men up himself to the ele- 

 phant and bring down the trophy, I decided to stay in camp 

 and rest, as I had also a good deal of writing to do. The 



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