A Hunt on the Plain 245 



and it returns at a trot. As it passes within fifty 

 yards of me I try a shot at its head with my Express 

 through mere curiosity, without even knowing whether 

 I shall hit it. ... Much to my astonishment, it falls 

 in a heap stone dead. Quite by chance the bullet 

 entered the ear. As my men wounded it twice in the 

 side and twice in the lungs, the animal belongs to 

 them. It would most certainly have died from the 

 latter injury. 1 



Let us return to the time I fired my first shot. 

 All the elephants, like well-trained horses, stop dead. 

 Some swing completely round on their hind-legs (a 

 movement which they execute very swiftly) and 

 make off towards the forest ; others, turning to the 

 left, trot towards our right, that is, to leeward, 

 those which had fled to the forest turning round and 

 doing the same. 



The moment the elephants swing round, Tambarika, 

 Rodzani, Tchigallo, and Kambombe select a male to 

 my right, and send a volley into his side. He 

 immediately charges the smoke, at the very instant, 

 indeed, I fire my second shot ; and it is then that 

 Msiambiri, seeing the animal charging us, warns me. 

 But Tambarika, having fled on to the plain at the 

 back of us, draws the elephant there after him ; and, 

 while we look on at the race between man and animal, 

 my other men escape to right and left. 



As soon as the elephant falls, we set off in search 

 of the others. Rodzani affirms having seen one of 



1 According to rules in force among native hunters, an elephant 

 belongs to the one who first fired at it. 



