v IN THE MIDST OF THEM 133 



loaf,' etc. etc., I made my plans as fast as possible, and 

 prepared for a row. A huge old cow was the nearest 

 to me, and after inspection I pronounced the sentence 

 of death upon her. Getting, as I fancied, the angle for 

 her brain, I let fly. Down she came on her knees, with 

 her head rammed into a lot of bamboos. Such a 

 trumpeting, shrieking, and thundering then ensued. 

 Thinking No. I was defunct, I let fly with second 

 barrel at the back of the ear of another as she went 

 crashing away. Down she came too slap on her head. 

 At this report up got No. I, to my disgust, and made 

 a clean bolt of it, upsetting everything that came in her 

 way. Seizing my Lancaster, I was just giving chase 

 when I ran bolt up against No. 2, which lady was again 

 on her legs, though uncommon groggy. Her back 

 being to me, she did not charge, but went smash into 

 an awful clump of creepers, bamboos, and every ' invin- 

 tion of the divil ' for holding a poor body. There she 

 stuck. I followed and stood within 3 yards of her 

 great brown quarters. To get round her was impossible ; 

 she would have annihilated me entirely. Seeing she 

 would neither go on nor charge (mind at that time I did 

 not know what a charge from a wounded elephant was 

 like, or I would have looked twice before I stood where 

 I did), I crept round, and poking my noddle into the 

 clump tried for a side shot. At last I got sight of her 

 eye and ear. Judging where the orifice of the latter 

 was, I fired, a heavy crash followed, and I had the 

 satisfaction of seeing a great leg stuck up in the air. 

 * Toes up ' at last, thought I. Devil a bit, thought her 

 ladyship. More struggling, a loud crack or two, a 

 dreadful blast, a huge back rose above the trees, and 

 instead of over me by way of a change, past me rushed 

 the elephant. This takes a minute to scribble, but a 

 few seconds in reality saw me standing feeling small, 



