298 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



undergone, to behold these elephants, rose fresh before 

 me. I determined that on this occasion at least I would 

 do my duty, and, dashing my spurs into " Sunday's" 

 ribs, I was very soon much too close in their rear for 

 safety. The elephants now made an inclination to my 

 left, whereby I obtained a good view of the ivory. Tho 

 herd consisted of six bulls ; four of them were full- 

 grown, first-rate elephants ; the other two were fine 

 fellows, but had not yet arrived at perfect stature. Of 

 the four old fellows, two had much finer tusks than the 

 rest, and for a few seconds I was undecided which of 

 these two I would follow; when, suddenly, the one 

 which I fancied had the stoutest tusks broke from his 

 comrades, and I at once felt convinced that he was the 

 patriarch of the herd, and followed him accordingly. 

 Cantering alongside, I was about to fire, when he in- 

 stantly turned, and, uttering a trumpet so strong and 

 shrill that the earth seemed to vibrate beneath my feet, 

 he charged furiously after me for several hundreds yards 

 in a direct lino, not altering his course in the slightest 

 degree for the trees of the forest, which he snapped and 

 overthrew like reeds in his headlong career. 



When he pulled up in his charge, I likewise halted; 

 and as he slowly turned to retreat, I let fly at his shoul- 

 der, "Sunday" capering and prancing, and giving me 

 nuich trouble. On receiving the ball the elephant shrug- 

 ged his shoulder, and made off at a free majestic walk. 

 This shot brought several of the dogs to my assistance 

 which had been following the other elephants, and on 

 their coming up and barking another headlong charge 

 was the result, accompanied by the never-failing trum- 

 pet as before. In his charge he passed close to me, 

 when I saluted hitn with a second bullet in the shoul- 

 der, of which he did not take the slightest notice, I 



