242 " ELEPHANT FINISH. 



" What do you think now, Moloka ?" said I. The 

 reply was, " Go on, go on, soon shoot him ; by-and- 

 by elephant finish /" 



So on I went. The jungle was very thick, and it 

 required the greatest caution to get through it without 

 making a noise. Sooner than 1 had expected, I saw 

 the head of my friend full on to me, about ten yards 

 off: both ears were thrown forward. He was evi- 

 dently on the qui vive, and listening attentively. 

 Throwing up the gumtickler, I took a steady aim for 

 the brain through the centre of the forehead, six 

 inches above the level of the eye, and fired. Jump- 

 ing quickly on one side, to get clear of the smoke, the 

 moment I had done so, I saw the brute on his knees, 

 but still alive. I then ran up close to him and shot him 

 dead in the forehead, directly between the ears. My 

 first shot was a little low. Moloka went almost mad 

 with delight. 



" Oh !" said he, " by-and-by no elephant, by-and- 

 by elephant finish ! English lion go England, then 

 Moloka savez shoot elephant in head ! Oh ! by-and- 

 by elephant all finish !" And so he went on till he 

 had me in roars of laughter. He had never seen ele- 

 phants shot so easily before, and he considered that 

 having once learned to shoot them in the head, he 

 and his friends would in a short time exterminate all 

 the elephants in Africa ! 



It was now dusk ; so taking the tails of the ele- 

 phants, I returned to camp. There was no noise 

 going on when I reached the village — all was quiet- 

 ness ; and the reason was that the men and women 

 had gorged themselves, and were lying about asleep, 



