4IO ROOSEVELT HUNTS ANIMALS OF DARK CONTINENT 



wound, and when close to the tree went down with a crash on his 

 knees. One more shot from the magazine gun and the huge brute 

 rolled over dead. The remainder of the herd, terror stricken by the 

 fall of their leader, broke and fled wildly through the bushes, heedless 

 of the rain of balls which Kemiit sent after them. Thus ended in 

 safety one of the most perilous moments in Theodore Roosevelt's life. 

 Had that first reckless shot left his gun the chance was great that not 

 ,one of the party would have left that thicket alive. Providence, in the 

 form of the hunter Selous, saved him from the imminent peril invited 

 by his nervous and reckless haste. 



This was not the only event of that day's hunt. An hour later the 

 party had the luck to meet a baby elephant, about two months old, a 

 tiny creature which had probably been left behind in the wild flight 

 of the herd and had since been blindly wandering over the open plain. 

 A rope in the hands of a party of natives made it prisoner and it was 

 brought alive into camp, its captor proposing to send it as a gift to the 

 Zoological Garden of New York. For this purpose it was taken to 

 Nairobi by a band of natives, to be sent thence to the seashore by rail. 

 As for the fallen giant, it gave its hide and tusks to the cause of 

 science. 



Such was one exciting example of Colonel Roosevelt's various 

 encounters with the elephant, the monarch of animals alike for size 

 and inborn intelligence. Capable of thought as this huge beast has 

 proved itself to be in captivity, in its wild state and before the man 

 with the rifle it has but two resources, flight from or a charge upon its 

 foe. The latter is always a serious matter for the hunters, many of 

 whom have been crushed under the feet or killed by the trunk of the 

 elephant when infuriated by a wound. Such w^ould probably have been 

 Roosevelt's fate on the occasion in question but for the warning of the 

 trained hunter at his elbow. 



In hunting the rhinoceros the danger is equally great — greater, 

 in fact, for this dull-brained but irate monster frequently does not 

 wait for provocation, but is apt to break into blind rage at the sight of 

 a man in its vicinity and charge upon him in sudden and sullen fury. 

 Huge and clumsy as it appears, its speed of movement is never to be 

 despised. Fortunately for the hunter, its little eyes have a short range 



