68 ON SAFAEI 



traitor breeze. The next moment he was gone as by 

 magic, vanishing from sight as silently as a rabbit. I 

 feared he had gone for ever, but instinctively climbed 

 down a branch or two, remaining in a position whence 

 I could still see over the grass, yet could jump to the 

 ground at once. 



What really passed through the elephant's mind 

 during the succeeding moments I would dearly like to 

 know. If at first (as certainly seemed to me) he had, 

 for a second, resorted to precipitate flight, that plan was 

 almost instantly rejected, for immediately thereafter the 

 crashing of the jungle told us he was coming, and then 

 the great square forehead appeared, towering above the 

 jungle, as he rushed directly upon us. I had jumped 

 down from the tree ; Archer was five yards to my left, 

 with the elephant almost straight above him, when the 

 charge stopped. We presumed the great beast had lost 

 the wind. What now confronted us, some ten yards 

 away, resembled the hoary grey tower of a village 

 church. Under a midday, equatorial sun {almost 

 vertical) there is no shade to define angles and thus 

 indicate the vital spots, nor was there any time to 

 consider. I placed my tiny "303 bullet on the temple as 

 near as I could judge at the point given in the " rules," 

 i.e. " half-way between eye and orifice of ear " (though 

 I could neither see eye nor orifice, and the ear was as 

 big as a barn-door). Archer, being directly in front, 

 tried the forehead shot, aiming at base of trunk. These 

 stunning blows at least turned him off" us, for the 

 elephant swerved to the left and disappeared. In a 

 w^ay, this was a relief, but it was also disappointing. 



Hardly, however, had I got the empty cartridge 

 replaced than the beast was on us again. This time he 

 crashed across us from left to right; luckily he had 

 (very slightly) misjudged his point, and thus passed us 

 a few paces in front of our actual positions. We each 

 put our bullets into the side of his head, almost at the 

 inuzzle of our rifles. Archer his single '400 ball, and I 

 my two 'SOS's, followed up by two " solids" from the 



