208 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



he decides to follow a little longer, realising by this time that a 

 stern chase is a long one. At last, as he plods wearily along, 

 he comes across dung that is actually smoking, a sure sign that 

 he is now pretty close to his game. A little further on the 

 welcome sound of a branch being snapped, or the rumbling 

 noise peculiar to the elephant, catches his ear; then he realises 

 that he may see the beasts themselves at any moment, and is 

 therefore thoroughly on the alert. Taking one of his heavy 

 rifles from a gun-bearer and putting two or three spare car- 

 tridges into his pocket, if he has not already done so, and 

 telling his gun-bearer to keep close up, while the rest of the 

 men remain behind until they either hear a shot or a signal 

 to come on, he pushes forward with the greatest caution, a 

 curious mixture of coolness and intense excitement. 



Should the nature of the ground in which the sportsman 

 finds them be open, so as to prevent his getting nearer than 

 40 yards, the shoulder shot is the best to take at elephants, 

 and I believe is almost universally recommended by all old 

 elephant hunters. Should the beasts, however, be found 

 standing in dense bush or tall cane-like grass (and they are 

 very partial to these places) where it is impossible to see them 

 until within 20 yards or less, and where even then all but the head 

 and outline of the back is hidden, the temple is the best shot, 

 and a shot anywhere between the eye and a little dark mark 

 which indicates the orifice of the ear would be instantly fatal. 

 When elephants are standing in thick bush and long grass, 

 unless a sportsman has had a good deal of experience with 

 them, the fact of seeing their huge backs towering above the 

 covert is rather apt to deceive him in regard to the posi- 

 tion of their heart and lungs. The great depth of their 

 bodies would probably lead him to shoot too high, and a 

 bullet placed too high, although it might eventually prove 

 fatal, would not prevent the beast getting clean away at the 

 time. 



The hunt after the first elephant I ever killed is a very 

 fair example of many which I have had, though I regret to say 



