ELEPHANT SHOOTING 



a crash on his side stone dead. Having cut off the feet and 

 tail I returned to camp, had a bath in the river and break- 

 fast. While at breakfast a villager from the distant " chena " 

 arrived, saying that the rogue had chased them out of 

 their "chena" the night before, and that he was in the scrub 

 quite close to the clearing. I did not think the chances of 

 getting up to him were very great, but the villager I had 

 had out with me in the morning had proved himself to be a 

 really good tracker, and, as he volunteered to go with me, I 

 started off in a blazing hot sun. We got to the clearing, 

 but the tracks were very hard to pick up, and as a strong, 

 shifty wind had risen my hopes sank to zero. However, we 

 followed up the morning tracks with constant delays, but 

 eventually got on to fresh signs. All at once the tracker 

 pulled up and listened ; / had heard nothing, but he in- 

 sisted that he had heard a branch break. After a bit the 

 sound was repeated, and this time I heard it myself. It 

 was rather down wind, so the tracker decided to leave the 

 track, make a detour, and try and work up wind by the 

 sound of the elephant feeding. It was trying work, as we 

 had to make our own path, and the wind kept veering 

 round. However, we got up to within about 20 yards, 

 and I could make out the elephant stern on to me. Taking 

 my rifle I crept cautiously up, but when within about 10 

 yards of him the elephant spun round and charged. I gave 

 him a shot through his curled-up trunk and down he 

 came, but got up again on to his fore-legs, screaming with 

 rage. His hind legs seemed paralysed. I gave him a 

 second shot, which only seemed to make him angrier, if 

 that was possible, and as I got quite close up to give him 

 a quietus, he lashed at me with his trunk, and as nearly as 

 possible got me. He struggled so desperately, and swung 

 his head and trunk about so rapidly, that I had to give him 



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