98 THE OUT -STATION; OR, 



At a dinner enjoyed by a party of sportsmen at 

 WILSON BUNGALOW (among whom was the governor 

 of the Island, the late Sir Robert Horton), the con- 

 versation turned upon elephant-shooting; when, to the 

 astonishment of the company, Rogers backed himself 

 at odds to kill two elephants with one ball at one 

 discharge ! 



This being deemed impossible, was taken up all 

 round the table, but the bet was gallantly won on 

 the following day in this manner. 



Rogers, knowing that an elephant invariably fell 

 towards the side it was shot at (instead of away from 

 the ball, as a person would naturally suppose), got in- 

 formation of the locality of several female elephants 

 with their calves, who keep by the sides of their mothers 

 in the same manner as we see foals at home ; and 

 placing himself in such a position as to get the calf 

 between himself and the elephant he aimed at, he 

 discharged the gun that under his steady eye and 

 hand never failed to do its duty, when the old lady 

 fell like a house on its progeny, crushing it to death 

 under its own already lifeless mass of flesh, and every 

 man who bet against the event saw it accomplished ! 



I will now conclude these anecdotes with quoting 

 a portion of the contents of a note lying by me from 

 Major Macready, who was at the time I was in the 

 island, aidecamp to General Sir J. Wilson, and almost 

 as staunch and gallant a foe to the elephantine race 

 as Rogers himself : his few expressive words may tell 



