THE FALL OF THE ELEPHANT. 



tidings, Mrs. Hess at once went out to the kraal, 

 and there beheld one of her finest goats flying in the 

 air, and the rest of the flock rushing forth helter- 

 skelter through a large breach in the enclosure. The 

 startled lady saw also in the bright moonlight not a 

 wool waggon, but a huge elephant carrying long 

 gleaming tusks, and very sensibly she at once fled 

 indoors. Next morning it was found that besides 

 slaying the inoffensive goat, the elephant had 

 trampled and destroyed the crops around the house, 

 and had made havoc with a quantity of sheep dip. 

 Upon the morning of the same day the District 

 Inspector of Sheep Scab, while making his rounds, 

 happened to come upon a troop of eight elephants in 

 the same neighbourhood, but not deeming such 

 mighty cattle within the purview of the Act he 

 administers, he turned his horse's head and hurriedly 

 rode away. 



One of the last of the professional ivory-hunters 

 who pursued their dangerous calling in this part of 

 the Colony was one Thackwray, a most silent and 

 expert tracker, a man of extraordinary courage and 

 determination amounting sometimes even to rash 

 bravado. 



Of this man, who was killed by an elephant 

 somewhere about 1830, some extraordinary tales 

 are related. I have been told, on excellent authority, 

 that Thackwray met his death in the act of winning 

 a most foolhardy bet. He wagered that he would 

 pick out the biggest and most savage bull elephant 

 of the adjacent forest, would chalk with his own 

 hand a large cross upon the hind quarters of the 

 animal, and would then shoot it and obtain its 

 ivory. The first part of the bet was actually 



