24.6 After Big Game in Central Africa 



them lag behind ; but we can see nothing on the 

 plain. One hundred yards farther on there is a bend 

 in the forest, and this we reach just in time to see an 

 elephant enter. It seems to have a broken leg, for it 

 limps along so slowly that, when we get near it, its 

 cruppers are still in view. It is the male at which I 

 fired first of all. As I afterwards found, his shoulder 

 was broken. Maddened by pain and his feeble 

 efforts, the animal roars with rage, and, blowing 

 furiously with his trunk, tears at everything within 

 reach. 



He sees us soon, and, half turning his head, tries 

 to face the enemy. His cries and groans become so 

 terrible that they must be heard a mile away. His 

 breast is hidden : so I try to get into the forest to see 

 him, but find the density of the vegetation an unsur- 

 mountable obstacle. I fire obliquely, therefore, trying 

 to reach the heart, but without succeeding. I then 

 aim at the back-bone. Crying more loudly at each 

 shot, the elephant slides on to its hind-quarters, and 

 is finally put out of its misery by a bullet behind the 

 ear. 



Leaving a man with the body, I return immediately 

 to the track of the herd, which has skirted the edge 

 of the forest. The marks on the soft ground could 

 not be plainer ; they can be followed into the 

 distance like a broad strip of ploughed land. More 

 than a mile is covered without there being any sign 

 of blood with nothing to indicate that an elephant 

 has left its companions. Then we see that one has 

 dropped out of the herd, and entered the forest. We 



