HUNTING THE ELEPHANT 159 



off, and might now be miles away. But our droop- 

 ing spirits were suddenly roused to fresh enthusiasm, 

 for one of the men who had gone off a little to the 

 right to look down into a broad valley came racing 

 back to me and said that he had seen three elephants 

 in the midst of the open valley, standing up to their 

 knees in water. I crept forward and inspected the 

 position, and sure enough the report was true, and 

 there stood the three great bulls, quite unconscious 

 of our near approach. There was one little tree not 

 more than thirty yards from them, and then for a 

 hundred yards all round it was open country. 



I left my men under cover of the trees and crept 

 forward, sometimes on hands and knees, with my 

 faithful gun-bearer just behind me, until we reached 

 the tree, into which I climibed to get a better view, 

 although it was scarcely strong enough to bear my 

 weight. Now I could see them splendidly, and as 

 I believed they had not caught sight of me I thought 

 I might first take a snapshot with my camera that 

 I had with me. Just as I was getting ready the 

 largest bull became uneasy, and commenced sniffing 

 and snorting and lashing himself into a rage, for he 

 had evidently got wind of us. He was far too near 

 for me to allow this to continue, so I quietly put 

 down the camera and levelled my -450 at his head. 

 He was facing me, and under the best conditions this 

 is a hazardous shot ; but no other presented itself, 

 and something must be done. I fired, and the bullet 

 struck the great frontal bone and only dazed him for 

 a moment, doing no real damage ; so I quickly gave 

 him the second barrel, a little lower down. Alas for 

 me ! this made matters worse, for he saw me, and, 



