60 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



wife. My mother and the boys will be sold and I 

 shall be married to a shenzi. Bwana, we are all 

 free-born, and I would rather you should shoot me 

 than let these men take me away.' 



I bade the poor girl have no fear on this score 

 and assured her and her fellow-captives that I would 

 see that they got safely back to their homes. Then, 

 turning to Mataka's men, I informed them of my 

 decision, and warned them that if ever I caught them 

 at this nefarious game again I would shoot them 

 down like dogs. Lest they should think I had 

 spoken idle words, I decided to give them an 

 exhibition of the power and effectiveness of a 

 modern rifle, so, choosing a particular tree as 

 target, I fired a few rounds at it, the solid 

 303 bullets piercing the trunk through and through. 

 Then, as a demonstration of the gun's rapidity of 

 fire, I filled the magazine with ten cartridges and 

 discharged them in quick succession, and from 

 the subsequent expressions on their shining, 

 swarthy faces, I could see that the performance 

 had made a decided impression. 



Next morning, the mother of Swasuri (for that 

 was the girl's name) was considerably worse, and 

 quite unable to proceed to her home, so I requested 

 her to stay in my camp until she was well enough 

 to make the journey. This journey she was 

 destined never to accomplish, for, in spite of every 



