ROOSEVELT HUNTS ANIMALS OF DARK CONTINENT 409 



slightly wounded the great cat, and with a snarl of pain and fear it 

 broke into a quick gallop across the plain, leading its pursuers for 

 several miles and finally taking refuge in a close thicket. 



A wounded lion in such a covert is a dangerous beast and Selous 

 strongly advised his companions not to follow it into its hiding place. 

 But Roosevelt, excited by the hunt, was not to be restrained. In the 

 absence of native beaters to drive out the lurking beast, he plunged 

 into the thicket himself, finding it so close in places that he was obliged 

 to creep forward on hands and knees. Selous followed this risky 

 venture and Kermit brought up the rear. 



Selous was soon startled to see Colonel Roosevelt rise suddenly 

 to his feet at a spot where a small opening was visible through a fringe 

 of tall grass. He was gazing keenly forward and lifting his rifle 

 hastily to his shoulder. The trained hunter looked in the same direc- 

 tion and to his surprise and alarm he saw a herd of about a dozen 

 elephants advancing with stately tread through the open space, led 

 by a huge, swaying tusker, at which Roosevelt was on the point of 

 taking aim. The great-bodied animal was less than two hundred feet 

 away. A shot at that distance was a perilous risk. Selous sprang 

 forward with a start of alarm and whispered excitedly in the ear of 

 his inexperienced companion: 



"Don't shoot ! On your life, don't shoot ! A bullet will bring a 

 charge of the herd and we may be trampled to death! Follow me!" 



The ardent sportsman with reluctance lowered his rifle and fol- 

 lowed the experienced hunter, who led them on a long detour to the 

 leeward of the quick-scented animals. Reaching a safer spot, he bade 

 his comrades to climb a tree 1 arby and hastily followed them himself 

 into the branches. As they scrambled up the trunk they could hear 

 the bushes and reeds cracking before the advance of the heavy-footed 

 elephants, and in a minute or two more caught sight of them through 

 a screen of lofty reeds that bordered their path. In a whisper Selous 

 advised his excited comrade how to aim, and Roosevelt, raising his 

 trusty Winchester, sent a half dozen bullets in rapid succession into 

 the bulky leader of the herd. 



The wounded tusker, with a scream of pain, instantly charged in 

 the line of fire, but fortunately for the hunters he had received a death 



