BULLET AND SHOT 



to estimate his quality, and then finding that he 

 was a little beast with very small tusks, I left him 

 alone, and again took up the tracks of the bison. 

 After we had gone on a short distance, we got to 

 windward of the elephant, when, suddenly, one of 

 the men said in his own language, " The elephant 

 is coming " ; and, sure enough, there was the brute 

 coming down on us in full charge ; but an 8-bore 

 bullet in the head staggered though it did not 

 floor him, and the precocious and combative 

 youngster executed a rapid strategic movement 

 to the rear, looking very foolish. 



All wild animals, but more particularly elephants, 

 should they be suddenly startled, and so led to lose 

 their heads and make a blind rush, are liable to 

 run into, instead of away from, the very danger 

 which they are seeking to evade. I have had a 

 tusker, who had not the slightest intention of 

 charging, rush so straight in my direction, after 

 I had given him both barrels of my 8-bore and 

 was defenceless (the men with my spare guns 

 having bolted), that I had to get out of his way 

 to avoid being accidentally run over. 



This happened in the open, and the tusker was 

 a solitary animal, but I have twice in one trip seen 

 herd elephants, alarmed at getting our wind, bolt 

 straight in our direction. I was then accompanied 

 by a good sportsman and pleasant companion (now, 

 alas ! no more), the late Brigadier-General A., who 

 had received permission from the Mysore Govern- 

 ment to shoot two tuskers. Upon one of these 

 occasions we had gone out after bison, and were 



220 



