ELEPHANT HUNTING 257 



surprised the temper of "the huge earth-shaking beast" 

 is sometimes of the shortest. 



Cuninghame and Tarlton stopped for a moment to con- 

 sult; Cuninghame stooped, and Tarlton mounted his 

 shoulders and stood upright, steadying himself by my 

 hand. Down he came and told us that he had seen a 

 small tree shake seventy yards distant; although upright on 

 Cuninghame's shoulders he could not see the elephant it- 

 self. Forward we stole for a few yards, and then a piece 

 of good luck befell us, for we came on the trunk of a great 

 fallen tree, and scrambling up, we found ourselves perched 

 in a row six feet above the ground. The highest part of 

 the trunk was near the root, farthest from where the ele- 

 phants were; and though it offered precarious footing, it 

 also offered the best lookout. Thither I balanced, and 

 looking over the heads of my companions I at once made 

 out the elephant. At first I could see nothing but the 

 shaking branches, and one huge ear occasionally flapping. 

 Then I made out the ear of another beast, and then the 

 trunk of a third was uncurled, lifted, and curled again; it 

 showered its back with earth. The watcher we had left 

 behind in the tree top coughed; the elephants stood mo- 

 tionless, and up went the biggest elephant's trunk, feeling for 

 the wind; the watcher coughed again, and then the bushes 

 and saplings swayed and parted as three black bulks came 

 toward us. The cover was so high that we could not see 

 their tusks, only the tops of their heads and their backs 

 being visible. The leader was the biggest, and at it I fired 

 when it was sixty yards away, and nearly broadside on, 

 but heading slightly toward me. I had previously warned 

 every one to kneel. The recoil of the heavy rifle made 



