THE FINISH OF A LONG FIGHT. 163 



full upon him, he received the other barrel in the eye as he 

 struck fiercely at me with his horns at the distance of a foot 

 or two from the muzzle of the gun. As his noble head 

 drooped the boat passed over a portion of his body, which was 

 promptly secured with the towing line, and on the arrival of 

 the elephants and servants was dragged ashore where the 

 bank shelved, and there and then cut up and shared ; the 

 splendid head, tongue and some marrow bones were reserved 

 for me, and the rest divided among the " Mahouts," boatmen, 

 and the Mussulman villagers, who, after the manner of their 

 kind, appeared upon the scene as soon as the knife had 

 passed along the bull's throat, a conscience-quieting ceremony 

 only, since the animal was struck dead by the last shot, which 

 the old "jemadar," or head " Mahout," protested was guided 

 by Providence, this being an enchanted beast of diabolical 

 nature, invulnerable to ordinary bullets, the eye only ex- 

 cepted, as is well known to all men, etc., etc., etc. Enchanted 

 or not, the lucky shot had struck full in the eye as the bull 

 came at me, and penetrated to the brain, my aim being the 

 broad flat forehead just below the line of the roots of the 

 horns, the divergence of my bullet having been caused by the 

 quick movement of the head in the act of striking at me, and 

 I considered at the time that I had escaped most fortunately 

 without an ugly blow ; and I think so still. 



We extracted thirteen bullets from the body of this bull, 

 many excellently placed, but flattened out; others had 

 entered between the ribs and done their work ; while some 

 were cut from under the hide of the shoulders, mere flat thin 

 discs of lead with jagged edges. The bull, as previously re- 

 marked, was a particularly fine one, in the prime and fullest 

 vigour of life, and his horns, measuring over nine feet from 

 tip to tip across the forehead, formed a noble trophy, being 

 perfect throughout as well as beautifully curved. I need 

 hardly add that my dinner that night was a very late one 

 when I returned to John Company's old Factory, and my 

 slumber after it sweet and profound, and undisturbed by the 

 ghosts of the Factors and Agents, senior and junior, whose 



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