THE ELEPHANT, THE GIANT OF THE FOREST 



the big bull, aiming for his heart. The shot, having missed 

 the deadly spot, made the elephant charge him at once. 

 Mr. Selous had to fling himself upon his horse before he 

 could put another cartridge in his rifle, and with the breech 

 still open he tried to escape by galloping away, as he had 

 done so often before. His horse was, however, so tired 

 out after the hard work of the day that the elephant gained 

 on him every second. 



The last he could remember, Mr. Selous relates, was a 

 terrific scream right over his head. The next moment he 

 was knocked unconscious. When he regained conscious- 

 ness he found himself in a rather peculiar position. He 

 was actually lying between the two tusks of the elephant, 

 with the blood of the latter pouring down upon him from 

 a wound in the chest. Mr. Selous was saved only by the 

 strange fact that the elephant, when trying to gore him 

 with his tusks, missed him by an inch or so, and from 

 the great impetus of the charge these buried themselves 

 so deep in the ground that he had not succeeded in extri- 

 cating them. Mr. Selous lay for a second perfectly quiet, 

 thinking over what would be the best thing to do under 

 the circumstances. Finally, seeing an opening between the 

 elephant's front legs, he made a desperate effort to regain 

 his liberty, squeezed through this " gate " and escaped. 

 Strange to say, before Mr. Selous could get hold of his 

 gun, which had been dropped some distance away, the 

 elephant managed to extricate its tusks and disappeared, 

 never to be found again. 



It was my great privilege to be a fellow passenger with 

 both Colonel Roosevelt and Mr. Selous when they, in 

 April, 1909, went cut to Africa. Almost every evening 



69 



