HUNTING THE ELEPHANT 165 



discovered me, and with trunk in the air he came 

 charging towards me. I knelt down and, resting my 

 arm upon my knee, took very deliberate aim at a 

 spot between the eyes. 



I had only a few seconds to aim, for the speed of 

 an elephant is tremendous when he is on the war- 

 path. I pulled the trigger, and almost simultaneously 

 with the report of the gun we heard a terrific thump, 

 and the earth literally shook beneath us, as only ten 

 yards in front of me that huge beast fell dead. The 

 bullet had first entered the trunk, piercing that, and 

 then into the centre of the skull, between the eyes, 

 passing through the brain. It never moved again, 

 and we walked up to the carcass and congratulated 

 ourselves. 



We were sitting resting upon the dead body of the 

 elephant when we heard something coming towards 

 us through the jungle. At first I thought it was some 

 men coming to see the result of the shot. But no, the 

 tread was too heavy. It was another elephant, making 

 straight for us. I filled up my magazine, shot a 

 cartridge into the breech, and waited,; my boys also, 

 who were armed with old Snider rifles, loaded up, 

 and I ordered them not to fire till I told them. The 

 suspense seemed awful as the elephant, very slowly 

 and with measured tread, came towards us. We could 

 not see a sign of it ; we were in the midst of the 

 thickest of thick jungles. At last the crackling of 

 the twigs seemed close to us. I raised my gun to 

 my shoulder. Another second and an enormous head 

 came pushing through the wall of thick vegetation just 

 by the side of the dead elephant. I fired point blank, 

 and my boys followed suit. Down went the second 



