254 After Big Game in Central Africa 



After going a short distance, we see in the centre a 

 motionless, hardly visible, black mass, which my men 

 point out as the elephant. But it is impossible to 

 fire so far with precision. In trying to get a little 

 nearer I make a noise, and the animal with ears 

 raised, turns towards me, uttering a by no means 

 engaging grunt. If I delay another minute, I say to 

 myself, I shall be charged ; and this time it will be 

 fatal, as I can no longer run. . . . For want of a 

 better spot, I aim right between the two eyes, at the 

 base of the trunk. I fire both barrels at once and 

 then jump aside. "Afia!" "He is dead!" cry my 

 men with a sigh of relief, as the elephant falls down 

 heavily in the midst of a great noise of breaking 

 branches. 1 



When the rifles are collected we go to look for the 

 elephant which Msiambiri saw, and find it about ten 

 yards from the place we passed in our headlong 

 career. 



These three elephants must have remained in the 

 thicket, being too seriously wounded to follow their 

 comrades. Two of them died as we were arriving; 

 the third had scented us and tried to avenge them. 



Four elephants in one day is very good work, but 

 I narrowly escaped paying very dear for this victory. 



The photograph which will be found at the end of 

 this chapter represents the skull of the female which 

 charged us on the day in question. It bears the 

 marks of the two bullets which despatched it. 



1 You can fire in this way at an elephant which is at rest, but 

 during a charge the head is raised and the shot would be wasted. 



