ELEPHANT SHOOTING 



heard a crashing of bamboos. Thinking that the 

 elephant had discovered us and was running away, 

 I took the 8-bore and ran up, in order to, if possible, 

 intercept him, when, to my surprise, I saw the rogue 

 standing beside a bamboo clump, in high open 

 jungle, on a gentle slope above me. The dry, 

 crackling leaves which strewed the ground made 

 noiseless progression impossible, even to a Kurraba, 

 and there was no cover beyond sparsely scattered 

 bamboo clumps. Half running and half walking, I 

 closed in quickly and alone, the elephant meanwhile 

 standing facing me, and apparently staring at me. 

 About twenty-five or thirty yards from him, a thin, 

 dead trunk leant at an angle of about forty-five 

 degrees. It occurred to me that this might be 

 useful as a breastwork in case of a charge, so I 

 pulled up behind it, and aiming at the elephant's 

 forehead, I fired. Both barrels went off simul- 

 taneously, owing to my having pulled the right 

 trigger, and the elephant, after tottering for a few 

 seconds, fell over with a crash like that of a falling 

 tree. He lay prone, only slightly and convulsively 

 moving his legs. H. then joined me with the men, 

 and I reloaded and went in nearer to the elephant, 

 who began to struggle and try to rise. H. there- 

 upon fired both barrels of his '577 express, and ran 

 away, the men with my spare guns and cartridges 

 following suit. I got back to the leaning trunk 

 and waited until the elephant had finished flounder- 

 ing about and had regained his legs, when I again 

 fired at his head ; and once more both barrels went 

 off, whilst the animal stood, swinging slightly from 



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