ii THE FIGHT WITH THE FOUR 25 



about thirty yards behind his intended victim, I 

 took hasty aim and fired, the bullet striking the 

 brute in the side of the head. For an instant he 

 staggered, and then came charging on again ! At 

 the same moment, Simba, catching his foot in a 

 creeper, plunged heavily forward on his face, and 

 for one awful second I thought it was all up with 

 my faithful old tracker. In a flash, to my intense 

 relief, he was on his feet again, but, being 

 thoroughly scared, instead of running at an angle, 

 dashed straight on towards me, completely ob- 

 structing my view of the animal. Rushing past 

 and slightly to the right of my man, I gave the 

 elephant the contents of my second barrel in the 

 forehead, the terrific impact of the bullet hurling 

 him back on his haunches. The shot, however, 

 struck him too high up to prove fatal, and speedily 

 recovering, he made tracks for the long grass from 

 which he had emerged on seeing my tracker. 

 More determined than ever to bag him for he had 

 a very fine pair of tusks I hastily grabbed my 

 light rifle from Simba and gave chase. Ere he had 

 gone far, I managed to place a bullet in the vicinity 

 of his heart, whereupon he instantly turned, 

 and, uttering a succession of short, shrill, 

 screams, bore down upon me. When he was 

 within forty yards of me, I fired in his face the 

 light was too uncertain for taking careful aim but 



