9 o ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



thorny scrub, and as we crawled on hands and 

 knees along the dark tunnel left by the buffalo's 

 passage through the elastic vegetation, a tunnel in 

 which it was difficult, in spite of the brilliant sun- 

 shine overhead, to see more than a yard or so in 

 advance, we suffered agonies through our hands, 

 arms and legs being lacerated by the spiniferous 

 bush, and irritated by the spicules of the horrible 

 itching upupu. Merging once more into the long 

 grass, we came upon him, standing at right angles 

 to his tracks, and we had crept up to within twenty 

 yards of him, when he caught sight of us and 

 charged. I instantly fired, but owing to the dense 

 grass, accurate shooting was almost impossible, and 

 although the bullet passed a little to the right of his 

 heart, he continued his furious career and was 

 within ten paces of me when I fired again. On this 

 occasion, my bullet ploughed its way through his 

 shoulder but failed to stop him, and, next moment, 

 with a vicious snort, he was upon me. Catching 

 me a sharp blow on the hip with his horn, he flung 

 me headlong in the dense grass out of his way, and 

 the impetus of his charge carrying him past 

 Chingondo, who had dodged nimbly aside, he burst 

 once more out of the belt of bush and floundered a 

 few paces into the bed of the river, where he 

 collapsed in a heap on the soft sand. Badly 

 bruised but otherwise unhurt, I picked myself up 



