Alarming Proximity 109 



remembering it. It is impossible to see six yards 

 before us ; the noise made by the elephants clearly 

 indicates that they are very near, but I do not suspect 

 that they surround me when, suddenly, behind me to 

 the right, almost within arm's length, an enormous 

 gray serpent winds itself around the reeds, tears 

 them up, and carries them away with their roots full 

 of sand and earth. At the same time I make out the 

 head of an elephant quietly taking his breakfast ! 

 Never in my life have I seen one so near and so 

 distinctly. I see his brown eye, the hairs on his 

 lower lip, and his tusks, which are white, polished, 

 and a fair size. " It is the male," says Tambarika, 

 in my ear : "let us be quick, he will scent us ! " At 

 the same moment I myself think that we cannot 

 draw back : I must aim at the head. Besides, if I 

 recede a step I shall no longer see him. In half a 

 second, and while the elephant swallows the armful 

 of reeds as though it were a baking of macaroni, I 

 substitute two solid bullets for the hollow ones which 

 were in my 303, and, having cocked the 8 - bore, 

 place it in the hands of Msiambiri within arm's 

 reach. When bringing my rifle to my shoulder, I 

 say to my men, " Which way shall we run after the 

 shot ? " " That way," they answer, pointing to the 

 Luiya, "and then to the right." "Good ! . . . Here 

 goes for the eye and the opening of the ear : . . . 

 there, right in the middle . . . ! " 



While we run at full speed towards the river bank, 

 where the ground is more open, a trumpet- blast on 

 our left and the crackling of broken reeds warn us of 



