BROOKE STOPS THE CHARGE. 163 



hardened ball and four drachms of powder. She was not above 

 fourteen yards off. The ball struck her between the eyes, 

 but the only effect was to turn her round and send her off 

 at the double. I was considerably riled after such a failure, 

 and was sitting on a rock chewing the cud of disgust when 

 our people said there was an elephant close by. Asking B. 

 to stop her if I did not, we stole up to her. I saw that she 

 was the same old female with the young one ; I got up 

 to within sixteen yards, and the next moment would have 

 had a good ear shot, but she saw me and instantly gave 

 a trumpet and charged full tilt at us down the slope of the 

 hill. I had to advance a pace or so to get clear of some 

 bushes ; taking a steady aim with the Lancaster I sent both 

 balls between her eyes, and though tin hardened bullets 

 they had apparently no more effect than if they had been 

 putty. The Lascar with my other gun had bolted, so there 

 was no help for it but to bolt after him ; he fell flat on 

 his face, and I got the rifle from him. In the meantime 

 Brooke had stood like a trump, and had stopped and turned 

 the elephant at seven or eight yards ; he wisely did not wait 

 on such ground to fire the other barrel. He said the calf, on 

 its mother lurning, threw up its trunk and gave a loud 

 hooray, when away they both went, and we never saw them 

 again. This was very unsatisfactory. We had not, however, 

 gone far when we came upon a fresh herd returning up 

 the hill from their bath ; they were all covered with black 

 mud, but there was no tusker with them ; we stalked to 

 within twenty yards of them ; my two failures had nearly 

 destroyed my confidence. After watching them for some 

 time I took a shot at an old female behind the ear as she 

 turned ; it appeared to be another failure, but the next 



