Further Experiences with Elephant 



fine dust and letting it trickle througfh our finders 

 to see which way the wind blew. There was so very 

 little breeze stirring the leaves that this precaution 

 was necessary. We well knew that once on the 

 hill-side the direction of the wind might be quite 

 from the opposite quarter, but we were taking no 

 risks. It took us a good twenty minutes before 

 our sweating savage, clad only in a bit of dirty 

 rag and armed with a light throwing spear, slowly 

 extended his forefinger and breathed, with a sigh 

 of relief, " Aho ! " He had performed his part 

 of the operations faithfully and well. 



There was the elephant — forty yards away. 

 Now it only remained to see how straight the 

 powder shot, or, in other words, how steady 

 master was with his rifle. The wind was all right 

 for us to move fifty yards either way, but the 

 tusker was broadside on, and a fine specimen into 

 the bargain. A few careful steps from bush to 

 bush, and then a delightfully friendly tree trunk 

 gave me shelter within twenty-five yards, which I 

 thought close enough. But I couldn't get a clear 

 shot at the hollow in his head between the eye 

 and the ear-hole, so I waited for him to move in 

 fearful trepidation that he would shift his position 

 altogether. Five minutes! Ten minutes! If 

 only he would take a single step forward to reach 

 a branch dangling in front of his nose ! He did ; 

 and thereby exposed his vulnerable point. Nerves 

 were steady with the long long wait — it had 

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