ELEPHANTS 157 



column of six abreast, tlie big bulls in the van, and 

 their line extending 100 yards to the rear. Surely a 

 more stirring spectacle in wild-life was never presented 

 to human eye ! 



We had, of course, regained our former position, 

 and now sat squatting behind that tiny bush within a 

 few yards of the nearest flags. But with that wondrous 

 scene enacting before our eyes no thought was spared to 

 considerations either of tactics or of safety. 



Obviously the changed course of the elephants, now 

 advancing directly upon us, had wholly altered the 

 strategical situation. Beyond a doubt we should, at 

 this moment, have retreated to some point at which we 

 should still retain control of operations. By continuing 

 to hold a false position, we presently lost all freedom 

 of action and left ourselves to be enveloped, within a 

 few more seconds, between the masses of advancing 

 monsters. 



Lucky it was that the bulls came first. Had the 

 prohibited sex headed the column, it is neither pleasant 

 nor useful to speculate on what might have resulted. 



So directly upon our position did the unconscious 

 elephants advance that, upon landing, the head of their 

 column had actually to divide so as to pass our bush, 

 some on either side. Within a few seconds the leading 

 bull on my side (the left) towered over our low shelter 

 not twenty yards ahead. But this first-comer was not 

 the real monarch of the troop. His tusks, though long, 

 were thin and ill-formed, crossing in front. The 

 monster tusker on which my heart was set, I knew, 

 came second. It had been agreed that I should fire the 

 first shot ; but at that critical moment, while I waited 

 an instant longer to get a clear sight of No. 2, my 

 wretched gun-bearer, Mabruki, giving way to sheer 

 " funk," fired my second gun close past my ear — 

 deafening and, for a time, half- stupefying me. At the 

 shot, the two great bulls on my front (the nearer being 

 then fourteen yards off") stopped short, raising their heads 

 and spreading their huge ears laterally as a barcj^ue sets 



