50 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap. 



the root of the trunk, brought the animal down with a 

 crash, breaking a good-sized tree in its fall. 



We took up the blood track again along a narrow 

 path, when we heard a crashing in front of us, and a 

 moment after saw the heads of two great elephants 

 appear above the jungle, as they charged straight down 

 the path for us, at a point where the thorn trees were so 

 dense that there was no getting off the track. I there- 

 fore fired at the head of the leading one when 8 

 yards from me, and jumped into a bush on my right. 

 The shot made the beast swerve from the path and 

 crash into the jungle to our left. I swung round to get 

 the shoulder-shot, and, as I raised the rifle, found the 

 muzzle pointing at Ali's back. By the time I got clear 

 of him it was too late, and the bullet struck the elephant 

 far back. While we were following our prey, we heard 

 a noise behind us, and presently W. with a string of 

 excited followers joined us. After getting him to 

 dismiss all but his shikaris, we followed the herd till we 

 sighted them. Then I left him to get his shot, which he 

 did, killing a large-bodied beast with small tusks. Some 

 of the herd now broke back towards us, when I fired at 

 two of them. One pulled up at once, and, as it staggered 

 about and looked too sick to go far, I ran on after the 

 other, which I found swaying about under a tree. 

 Hearing our approach, it turned towards us, but a shot in 

 the forehead dropped it. I then went back to the other 

 wounded animal, which I found had remained in the 

 same place, but it was then so dark that I had to leave 

 it. The net result of our hunt was, that H. killed five 

 elephants, and W. and B. one each, while I had also 



