TWO BULL ELrPHANTS SHOT. 23 



dey behind the shoulder. I was now joined by Wolf, 

 who rendered me important service by considerably en- 

 grossing the attention of tiie elephant, running .bark- 

 ing before him as he charged. I was in a precious hur- 

 ry, as the sun was setting, and I kept loading and firing 

 at dueling distance. On receiving the twenty-fourth 

 shot he stood trembling violently for several seconds, 

 and then fell heavily forward on his tusks, after which 

 he rolled over and rested on his side. I reckoned this 

 to be a fortunate conclusion after the hard and toilsome 

 day I had spent under the power of a scorcliing sun. 

 Mutchuisho and the natives soon made their appear- 

 ance, all in wondrous good humor at our success. 



The nearest water to this elephant was in a vley sit- 

 uated several miles to the eastward ; and when the na- 

 tives had constructed a number of water-bags of the 

 under skin of the elephant, a watering party was dis- 

 patched with these and a number of calabashes which 

 they always carried along with them. This party re- 

 joined us at the hour of midnight, and reported that 

 while they were filling their water-bags at one side of 

 the vley, a troop of bull elephants were drinking at the 

 other. Accordingly, on the morrow I went in quest of 

 these, accompanied by Mutchuisho and a small party, 

 and on the second day came up with them and bagged an 

 old bull, whose tusks were the stoutest I had ever seen. 



On the morrow I cast loose the steeds at earliest 

 dawn, and soon after we heard the hoarse cry of an ele- 

 phant within half a mile of us. I permitted my horses 

 to graze while the dew was on the grass, after which, 

 along with the dogs, I sent them to water with a party 

 of Bakalahari at a fountain reported three miles dis- 

 tant, and in the mean time I regaled myself with cof- 

 fee and rhinoceros. 



