552 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 
near from the south. They were coming right on for the 
spot where we lay, and they seemed very likely to walk over 
the top of us. We therefore placed our two big rifles in 
position, and awaited their forward movement with intense 
interest. On they came, with slow and stately step, until 
within twenty yards of us, when the leading elephant took 
it into his head to pass to leeward. We let him come on 
until he got our wind; he was then within ten yards of the 
muzzles of our hcavy-metaled rifles; on winding us, he 
tossed his trunk aloft, and we instantly fired together. I 
caught him somewhere about the heart, and my big six-pound 
rifle burst in Carey’s hands, very nearly killing us both. 
The elephant, on being fired at, wheeled about, and retreated 
to the forest at top speed. I now directed “ Stick-in-the-mud” 
to make use of his single-barreled twelve to the pound in the 
event of more elephants coming up; and thanking my stars 
that the old Dutch rifle had not sent us both to the land of 
the leal, I sat down and watched the dark masses of trees 
that cut the sky on every side, in the hope of seeing a mass 
as high and wide come towering forward into the open space 
that surrounded the fountain. 
Nor did I watch long in vain, for very soon three princely 
bull elephants appeared exactly where the first came on, and 
holding exactly the same course. They approached just as 
the first had done. “When the leading elephant came within 
ten yards of us, he got our wind and tossed up his trunk, 
and was wheeling round to retreat, when we fired together, 
and sent our bullets somewhere about his heart. He ran two 
hundred yards and then stood, being evidently dying. His 
comrades halted likewise, but one of them, the finest of the 
three, almost immediately turned his head once more to the 
fountain, and very slowly and warily came on. We now 
heard the wounded elephant utter the cry of death, and fall 
heavily on the earth. Carey, whose ears were damaged by 
