A HUNTER'S CAMP-FIRES 



hearing a great commotion in the grass, climbed up a small 

 palm-tree, and saw the backs of the line of alarmed elephants 

 as they moved off in single file. As I followed with my eyes 

 the line of their march, I perceived ahead of them a small piece 

 of marsh where the grass was very green and only three feet in 

 height. Immediately I forced my way through the jungle in 

 that direction. Bursting suddenly out of the wall of high 

 grass into this comparatively open spot, I found myself within 

 thirty yards of the nearest elephant. Eight of these animals, 

 including tw^o bulls, four cows, and two partially grown calves, 

 were within sixty yards of me. I could hear two more coming 

 through the jungle, and, as I supposed that the largest bull 

 would bring up the rear of the herd, I waited a few seconds 

 only to discover that the last of these was a cow with a calf. 



By this time the nearest bull elephant, recognized by the 

 length and size of the tusks, was about eighty yards distant, 

 and after taking a careful sight at the gray shoulder, I fired the 

 first barrel of the .450 Cordite that I had with me. 



At the report the elephant stumbled, but immediately recov- 

 ered, whereupon I hurriedly fired the second barrel, causing the 

 great beast to topple over in the grass. The two rapid dis- 

 charges jammed the mechanism of the rifle. While I was work- 

 ing frantically to force the breech open, I heard a steadily in- 

 creasing commotion in the grass which caused me to look up 

 quickly. The remaining eight elephants, which had bunched 

 at the two reports, were now advancing by long strides in a 

 fan-shaped formation in my direction, their huge ears set for- 

 ward like so many sails in a breeze. I reached for my second 

 rifle, only to discover that Faki, seeing the approach of the 

 elephants, had bolted with it, and unarmed I crouched in the 

 grass while the great beasts charged within a few yards of 

 either side of me, and vanished with gradually decreasing noise 

 into the jungle. The second bull, which had been standing 

 behind a cow when I had shot, swept by within thirty yards of 



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