iv KOM-KOM 49 



At once, I groped about me for my rifle and dis- 

 covered, to my intense joy, that it lay undamaged 

 by my side. Eagerly grabbing it, I cautiously 

 opened the bolt to eject the shell and jerked the 

 last cartridge into the breech. At this juncture, 

 Simba and Ntawasie, who had dodged into the bush 

 seeing the elephant almost upon me, and imagining 

 that I must be in a sore predicament, pluckily 

 began yelling in the hope of distracting the animal's 

 attention. The ruse was successful : like a flash, 

 Kom-Kom turned and crashed in their direction. 

 Seizing my opportunity, I quickly raised my rifle 

 and sent the remaining bullet into the vicinity of his 

 lungs, and though not fatal, the shot had a salutary 

 effect, for Kom-Kom immediately gave up the 

 pursuit of my men and tore madly through the bush 

 for some seventy yards to the left. My next move 

 was to extricate myself and regain my feet. Ugh ! 

 how sore I felt ! When I had fallen, a thick branch 

 had struck me on the right side of my head, 

 severely cutting me under the eye and scrubbing 

 the skin off one side of my nose, while my left 

 elbow, laid bare to the bone, was bleeding profusely 

 and giving me considerable pain. These little mis- 

 haps, however, are incidental to the game of hunting 

 and detract little from its joys, so rejoining my two 

 men and exchanging my light for my heavy rifle, I 

 at once decided to resume the pursuit of Kom- 



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