ELEPHANTS. 163 



tained that there 'was little or no wind, we lay down at 

 the edge of a small glade, towards which the trio were 

 feeding, with our second rifles on the ground beside us. 

 The crunching of the bamboos got louder and louder by 

 degrees, and at last a huge brown mass, with a pair of 

 gleaming tusks emerged from the jungle on the opposite 

 side of the glade some thirty yards across, and smelling 

 danger sounded the alarm by striking the end of his trunk 

 against the ground, thus emitting a metallic noise 

 resembling a log of timber falling on hard ground. * 

 His companions then drew up beside him, the female in 

 the centre. After a minute's deliberation they slowly 

 advanced, but in a hesitating manner, trying the wind 

 with their trunks and evidently suspicious of danger. 

 Each man was to take the tusker next him, the cow was 

 not to be fired at, we had a final look at our cartridges, 

 full cocked the rifles, and opened the cartridge pouches so 

 as to be ready for reloading. The elephants now in full 

 view had halted within twenty yards. A rifle in each hand 

 we both jumped to our feet, and ran forward to engage 

 them. At a close range I fired three shots at my tusker's 

 head and one for the other tusker's heart as he swerved off 

 to my right front, his head being obscured by the cow's 

 stern. They all crashed off through the bamboos, closely 

 pursued by us. Seventy yards further on, Cumming's 

 tusker collapsed stone dead in a kneeling position. In 

 addition to his shots in the head, the steel tip of my 

 bullet had, as already mentioned, passed through the body 

 in the line of the heart. After a minute we continued 

 the chase a stern chase and destined to be a long one 

 and soon afterwards saw the shadowy outlines of the two 



* This noise can be heard at a distance of two hundred 

 yards. 



M '2 



