Lake Victoria to Khartoum 



out near by, and we might tumble over them 

 unawares. We crept along, and I had just turned 

 round to whisper a question to one of my fol- 

 lowing, when on our right I saw the elephant's 

 head slowly topping the edge of the stony hollow, 

 rising higher and higher as he advanced towards 

 us, flapping his great ears to and fro, the picture 

 of dejection, and evidently totally unconscious of 

 our presence. Then his tusks appeared, and I 

 knew he was the right one. Every few steps he 

 stopped, looking first one way and then another, 

 trying to make up his mind where to go. Then 

 he turned broadside on and showed the vital spot 

 in his head. There was no mistake this time, 

 and he measured his length on the ground. I 

 paced the distance and found it twenty-three 

 yards, and then gave him an extra one into the 

 back of the head to make assurance doubly sure. 



This was far better than I had at first hoped 

 for, as a wounded elephant usually goes for 

 miles, and we had bagged this one after two and 

 a half hours' work from camp, and about nine 

 o'clock in the morning. Of course, my first shot 

 had made him very sick indeed, as I found on 

 examination that the bullet had only missed the 

 brain by a very little, having penetrated the bony 

 part of the head above it. It was quite enough 

 to have knocked him down, but I don't know 

 that he would have succumbed to the effects. 



But where were his two companions of the 



266 



