TIGER SLAYER BY ORDER 



the excitement, heeded nothing but Rodder and his 

 mare, that was almost in his grasp. When close to 

 the tail of the elephant, Tahir SherrhT s sword flashed 

 from its sheath, as grasping his trusty blade he leapt 

 nimbly to the ground, while Ibrahim caught the reins 

 of his horse ; two or three bounds on foot, with his 

 sword clutched in both hands, and he was close behind 

 the elephant ; a bright gleam shone like lightning as 

 the sun struck upon his descending steel ; this was 

 followed by a dull crack, as the sword cut through skin 

 and sinews and settled deep in the bone, about twelve 

 inches above the foot. At the next stride the elephant 

 halted dead short in the midst of its tremendous 

 charge. Tahir had jumped quickly on one side and 

 had vaulted into his saddle with his naked sword in 

 hand. At the same moment Rodder, who had led 

 the chase, turned sharp round, and again faced the 

 elephant as before. Stooping quickly from his saddle 

 he picked up from the ground a handful of dust which 

 he threw into the face of the vicious -looking animal 

 that once more attempted to rush upon him. It was 

 impossible his foot was dislocated and turned up in 

 front like an old shoe. In an instant Tahir was once 

 more on foot, and again his sharp sword slashed the 

 remaining leg. The great brute could not move ! 

 The first cut with the sword had utterly disabled it ; 

 the second was its death-blow, the arteries of the leg 

 were divided, and the blood spurted in jets from his 

 wounds. The elephant now quickly bled to death." 



I have quoted the passage in its entirety because it 

 would have been difficult to abstract it ; nor could I venture 

 to take such a liberty with the writings of a sportsman so 

 renowned. From the graphic description of the attack it 

 would appear that the methods employed by the Hamran 

 Arab were much the same as those described by the Gada- 

 barsi hunters, except that the latter use their swords 

 single-handed, and do not dismount, but deal their blow 

 from horseback and when going at full gallop. 



****** 



While encamped on the border of Abyssinia in the 

 194 



