130 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



elephants down in three hours all before breakfast. It 

 certainly was a grand bit of sport, old boy ; and I intend 

 to tell you the whole thing from the break till I ran 

 into the last elephant. My battery that day consisted of 

 my old Purdey (2-grooved) rifle (a splendid ' weepon '), 

 carries 7 to the pound conical ; smooth-bore Lancaster, 



8 -bore ; and a poly-grooved rifle by , a 



1 3 -bore, a most unworthy gun, and has nearly been 

 the cooking of my goose twice once with a panther 

 long ago, the second time was on this occasion. All 

 of these are double-barrelled of course; a single I 

 consider most useless with dangerous game. With the 

 2-grooved Purdey I have killed all my big game, with 

 a trifling exception or two. It is a grand fine rifle, 

 and will, I hope, be my mainstay should I ever get as 

 far as Africa. The balls are blunt - topped. They 

 combine in a quite sufficient degree the force of 

 the common conical and the smashing power of the 

 spherical bullets. Hold him straight and he will do 

 the rest. And now, I think, you will understand me 

 without many interruptions. 



$rd of July. Started before dawn in the midst of a 

 downpour of rain. A fellow gets accustomed to this 

 after a week, but not so his guns. In this kind of 

 weather they are the greatest bugbear a man has to 

 contend against. A miss-fire in the case of a wounded 

 tiger or elephant may cost you your life ; and still, with 

 the utmost care, it is impossible to guard for certain 

 against it. The truth of this was forced upon me in a 

 most vivid and uncomfortable manner this very day. 

 My shikaree carried Moore's rifle ; Wild Panea, or 

 jungle man, carrying Purdey ; two Koorimbers one 

 carrying Lancaster smooth-bore, the other grub, etc. 

 Spotted deer and pig went whistling and grunting away 

 on all sides of us, as we splashed through the flooded 



