154 BEASTS AND MEN 
but in this case I saw it would not do to hesitate any longer. 
At any moment a fatal accident might occur ; there was no 
help for it, the monster must be executed. It happened, how- 
ever, that I had to depart for England on the next day, and it 
was therefore necessary to postpone the unpleasant ceremony 
until my return. In England I met Mr. Rowland Ward, 
the naturalist. I happened to tell him about the elephant, 
which I proposed to 
have killed on my 
return, and to my 
surprise he made a 
most original propo- 
sal. If the elephant 
were to be had cheap, 
he said he would 
willingly buy him 
from me, for he be- 
lieved he could easily 
find a “sportsman” 
to whom it would be 
worth fifty pounds to 
be able to say that 
he had once shot an 
elephant! I naturally 
jumped at the idea 
of saving some of 
my loss, and through 
Rowland Ward it was soon arranged that a certain Mr. W. 
should come to Hamburg within a week for the purpose of 
shooting big game in my Zoological Garden. Sure enough, 
the two gentlemen arrived in Hamburg provided with a whole 
arsenal of different sorts of rifles, and it was duly arranged that 
the elephant hunt should take place the next day at Neuer 
Pferdemarkt. J made all the needful preparations, and took 
care to notify the police, who decided to send representatives 
to see that there was no danger to the public. The hunt 
12° below zero. 
