298 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



At last we came in sight of the mighty game. The trail 

 took a twist to one side, and there, thirty yards in front of 

 us, we made out part of the gray and massive head of an 

 elephant resting his tusks on the branches of a young tree. 

 A couple of minutes passed before, by cautious scrutiny, we 

 were able to tell whether the animal was a cow or a bull, 

 and whether, if a bull, it carried heavy enough tusks. Then 

 we saw that it was a big bull with good ivory. It turned 

 its head in my direction and I saw its eye; and I fired a 

 little to one side of the eye, at a spot which I thought would 

 lead to the brain. I struck exactly where I aimed, but the 

 head of an elephant is enormous and the brain small, and 

 the bullet missed it. However, the shock momentarily 

 stunned the beast. He stumbled forward, half falling, and 

 as he recovered I fired with the second barrel, again aiming 

 for the brain. This time the bullet sped true, and as I 

 lowered the rifle from my shoulder, I saw the great lord of 

 the forest come crashing to the ground. 



But at that very instant, before there was a moment's 

 time in which to reload, the thick bushes parted immedi- 

 ately on my left front, and through them surged the vast 

 bulk of a charging bull elephant, the matted mass of tough 

 creepers snapping like packthread before his rush. He was 

 so close that he could have touched me with his trunk. 

 I leaped to one side and dodged behind a tree trunk, 

 opening the rifle, throwing out the empty shells, and slipping 

 in two cartridges. Meanwhile Cuninghame fired right and 

 left, at the same time throwing himself into the bushes on 

 the other side. Both his bullets went home, and the bull 

 stopped short in his charge, wheeled, and immediately 

 disappeared in the thick cover. We ran forward, but the 

 forest had closed over his wake. We heard him trumpet 

 shrilly, and then all sounds ceased. 



The 'Ndorobo, who had quite properly disappeared 

 when this second bull charged, now went forward and soon 

 returned with the report that he had fled at speed, but was 

 evidently hard hit, as there was much blood on the spoor. 



