OF THE OLD WORLD. 3 4 9 



would have seen him trampled under foot ; as it 

 was, I was able to despatch the tusker ^'ith my 

 second gun, which Googooloo handed to me just as 

 he began to recover himself, and was getting on his 



knees. K told me that the moment I left him 



he heard a slight rustling in the cover close to 

 where we were standing, and almost immediately 

 the tusker made his appearance, coming directly 

 towards him, when he fired a couple of hurried 

 shots and took to his heels, seeing that he did 

 not drop. I fancy that he must have lost his pre- 

 sence of mind when he saw the huge brute advanc- 

 ing towards him, as only one of his shots had taken 

 effect, and that high up in the forehead. I con- 

 gratulated him upon his escape, which was certainly 

 due more to good luck than good management, as, 

 in the position I was in, and the distance, it must 

 have been entirely a chance shot of mine that 

 dropped him. The sound of our guns caused a 

 great panic in the herd ; and they rushed about 

 crashing through the jungle at a great pace, which 

 led me to suppose that they would not pull up until 

 they had covered a good deal of ground ; and as 



K found he had sprained his ankle in his 



flight, which prevented him from walking comfort- 

 ably, we gave up all thoughts of further pursuit. 

 Leaving two of our people to cut out the tusks, 

 which were small, not exceeding thirty pounds in 

 weight, we made the best of our way back to the 

 hut, where we found B 's party busily occupied 



