186 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 
then proceeded to walk round me in a half-circle. 
The moment he got wind of me, he whipped round 
in his tracks like a cat and came for me in a_bee- 
line. Hoping to turn him, I fired instantly ; but 
unfortunately my soft-nosed bullets merely annoyed 
him further, and had not the slightest effect on his 
thick hide. On seeing this, I flung myself down 
quite flat on the grass and threw my helmet some 
ten feet away in the hope that he would perceive it 
and vent his rage on it instead of me. On he 
thundered, while I scarcely dared to breathe. | 
could hear him snorting and rooting up the grass 
quite close to me, but luckily for me he did not 
catch sight of me and charged by a few yards to my 
left. 
As soon as he had passed me, my courage 
began to revive again, and [ could not resist the 
temptation of sending a couple of bullets after him. 
These, however, simply cracked against his hide 
and splintered to pieces on it, sending the dry mud 
off in little clouds of dust. Their only real effect, 
indeed, was to make him still more angry. He stood 
stock-still for a moment, and then gored the ground 
most viciously and started off once more on the 
semi-circle round me. This proceeding terrified me 
more than ever, as I felt sure that he would come 
up-wind at me again, and I could scarcely hope to 
escape a second time. Unfortunately, my surmise 
