of the Old World. 363 



which I had some difficulty in preventing my com- 

 panion from firing at, as they were the first wild 

 elephants he had ever seen. I never cared to pull 

 trigger at the " gentler sex," and, as the herd appeared 

 to number about eleven, I concluded there must be a 



bull amongst them. I told K to wait under 



cover as quietly as possible, whilst I went forward to 

 reconnoitre ; but I had hardly left the spot, when I 

 heard a double shot, followed by a scream of rage, 

 and, turning back, to my horror I saw my companion 

 running for his life through the jungle, with a tusker 

 closely following him tail on end. The elephant, 

 notwithstanding his apparently unwieldly shape, gets 

 over the ground much faster than one would suppose, 



and poor K would have had no chance if he had 



not been able to dodge him, by running round trees. 

 I could not for the moment get a fair shot at any 

 vulnerable part ; but, seeing that the elephant had got 

 so near that he could almost have reached him with 

 his trunk, I let drive a double shot at his ear, and 



brought him to his knees, which gave K time to 



clamber up into a tree. It was a very near touch, 

 for he was breathless, and another few seconds would 

 have seen him trampled under foot ; as it was, I was 

 able to despatch the tusker with 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 



