Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



shouted to me and pointed in the direction where 

 the elephant which I had shot had fallen. There, 

 to my horror, an enormous bull emerged from 

 behind some small trees. Another instant, and he 

 had got my wind. Down went his trunk, and out 

 went his huge ears. He bore straight down upon 

 me, making a great noise. I recognized it was 

 useless to try and get away in that long grass, and 

 so I mechanically brought my rifle to the shoulder. 

 But in the hurry of the moment I scarcely took 

 aim ; I remember firing straight at the centre of 

 his enormous head, and the recoil of the rifle nearly 

 knocked me over. I had a sort of dull idea I might 

 turn him, and if not, well — cest une autre affaire. 

 Almost simultaneously I heard another shot ring 

 out. My noble orderly had delayed about twenty- 

 five yards behind me with my second rifle, and 

 by doing so was enabled to obtain a heart shot. 

 Seeing the imminent danger of his "effendi," he 

 fired without a moment's hesitation. The two shots 

 were effectual, and the infuriated beast fell like a 

 log quite close to where I was standing. It was 

 all over. It was with a grateful feeling of relief 

 that I subsided into a sitting position, with my back 

 against a tree. My orderly, in the excess of his joy, 

 seated himself on the dead carcase of the elephant, 

 discussing volubly the details of the fight, and 

 applauding his vast superiority over all elephants 

 under any circumstances. 



The tusks of our infuriated friend weighed about 

 60 lbs., as far as I could judge, but the matter did 



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