Hunting in East Africa 



unconscious of our presence. They went about 

 400 yards past us, and then halted at right 

 angles to the route they had been pursuing. 

 There were five elephants in this herd — four 

 large, and one small one, bringing up the rear. 

 Some 60 yards on their right flank was a small 

 skeleton bush, and, making a slight detour, we 

 directed our course toward that. The leading 

 animal was the largest, so I decided to devote 

 our attention to that one. I told George to 

 fire at the leg and I would try for the heart. 

 We fired simultaneously, George missing and 

 my shot taking effect altogether too high. 



Two things resulted from the discharge of 

 our rifles : the gun-bearers bolted with their 

 weapons and the elephants charged toward us 

 in line of battle. As far as I can calculate, an 

 elephant at full speed moves 100 yards in 

 about ten seconds, so my readers can judge 

 how much time elapsed before the elephants 

 were upon us. We fired again. My shot did 

 no execution, but George, who had remained 

 in a kneeling position, broke the off foreleg of 

 the leading animal at the knee. It fell, and 

 the others at once stopped. We then made 

 off, and watched from a little distance a most 

 interesting sight. 



5-1 



