CH. in TOUCH AND GO 33 



lowered his enormous head, and screaming with 

 rage, charged straight at me ! The celerity and 

 determination with which he came on was not 

 calculated to inspire equanimity, but it was a 

 moment when the necessity for keeping cool was 

 paramount, so, patiently waiting till he was within 

 twenty paces of me, I gave him the contents of the 

 second barrel full in the face. Though the bullet 

 tore through his left eye and emerged on the same 

 side of the head, it utterly failed, to my amazement, 

 to stop or turn him, and, next moment, he was upon 

 me. A vicious blow from his tusk sent me hurtling 

 against my tracker, Simba, who was a few paces 

 away from me on my right, and together we came 

 heavily to earth. Ere I had time to scramble to 

 my feet, the elephant had turned, and seizing me by 

 my khaki shirt underneath the right shoulder, flung 

 me high above him in the air. Though rudely 

 shaken, I was vividly conscious of all that was 

 occurring, and, curiously enough, as I spun through 

 space, the awful conviction flashed through my mind 

 that I had seen the last of my hunting days. I 

 landed on the elephant's back, rolled helplessly off 

 and came with a thud to earth, where I still had 

 sufficient presence of mind to lie absolutely motion- 

 less to avoid further attracting his attention. I had 

 fallen on my face and lay with my lower limbs 

 beneath his towering, bulky body, between his fore 



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