tbcnrv? Hstbun? Xevcson 529 



charged up to within fifteen paces, when I let him 

 have it, aiming full at the centre of the hollow, just 

 over the trunk. The ragged bullet flew true to its 

 mark, burying itself in the brain ; but the impetus of 

 his headlong charge carried him on, and with a mighty 

 splash that might have been heard at a quarter of a 

 mile's distance, he fell with his outstretched trunk close 

 to my feet, covering us with mud from head to foot." 



Too near to be pleasant, most people will say. On 

 examination of the dead elephant " the Old Shekarry " 

 discovered three other recent wounds almost in the same 

 place where his own bullet had struck, one being within 

 an inch of his own shot, from which death was 

 instantaneous, and the other two in the most vital part 

 of the skull. On his attempting to probe these wounds 

 he discovered that they were plugged up with red clay, 

 which he conceives was done by the elephant himself 

 to stop the haemorrhage. When this was cleared out 

 he found that, though these three bullets had all struck 

 the vital spot, not one had been delivered at the proper 

 angle so as to penetrate the brain. Afterwards his 

 men extracted the bullets, and he was surprised to 

 recognise among them two that to his certain know- 

 ledge must have belonged to Lieutenant Wedderburn. 

 It was only later that he learned he was the avenger 

 of his friend's death. 



Notwithstanding the disheartening experiences I have 

 already recorded, " the Old Shekarry " was not deterred 

 from again offering his services to the Government. 

 He volunteered to go single-handed to the court of 

 Theodore of Abyssinia and negotiate for the release 



VOL. II. 13 



