52 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



battle should his pursuers come into view. Finding 

 that I could get an unobstructed view of his 

 head from where I stood, I raised my rifle, and 

 carefully judging the angle to his brain, pressed the 

 trigger. The bullet smashed into his skull close to 

 his ear-hole and brought him down with a 

 stupendous crash, his head and tusks being 

 entangled in the tough ropes of the creepers. 

 Kom-Kom the Mighty One was no more ! I 

 raised the cry : Socolai ! Socolai ! (It is finished ! 

 It is finished!) and instantly my trackers repeated 

 the exultant yell. It rang deep and sonorous 

 through the silence of the forest and far away 

 it was faintly echoed by my men and some 

 villagers who were following us up : Socolai ! 

 Socolai ! 



Rolled up in our blankets, we passed the night 

 in the forest not far from where Kom-Kom lay 

 dead. From my rough couch, I could see our 

 camp fires throwing mysterious shadows into the 

 luxuriant tropical foilage ; through the leaves above 

 my head, shone here and there a bright star. But 

 the beauties of nature appeal but little to a tired 

 man and, ere long, in spite of the discomfort of 

 a cut face and torn elbow, I had slipped into sound 

 slumber. 



Early next morning, villagers of both sexes 

 and all ages arrived en masse on the scene, 



