364 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



think sixty seconds elapsed between my first and 

 third shots. Had FeHx not rushed at the elephants, 

 I think I am truthful in saying that I should have 

 been crushed to death. After a few moments, and 

 some vigorous shouting on my part, the two gun- 

 bearers turned up, full of excuses, which I accepted, 

 having no alternative. 



After a short search I found that my two shots 

 had proved effective, — a large female elephant was 

 lying on its side, though not yet dead. As we ap- 

 proached it, it endeavoured to rise, and reached for us 

 with its trunk. As a precautionary measure, and 

 also to end its misery, I seized a Mannlicher, which 

 one of my gun-bearers carried, and discharged it 

 point-blank at the forehead of the elephant. Its life 

 fled. 



It is supposed that a shot at the forehead of 

 an elephant cannot be attended with decisive re- 

 sults. Many men have told me that even a shot 

 from an eight-bore rifle has proved inadequate to 

 stop the rush of an elephant, when made at its fore- 

 head. However, I have met an English gentleman, 

 Mr. Frank Cooper, who had killed an elephant in 

 Africa with a .50 Winchester, shooting the animal 

 through the forehead ; and the force of the bullet 

 was sufficient not only to penetrate the vast quantity 

 of bone which defends the elephant's brain in front, 

 but after passing through this bone and the brain, 

 it shattered the rear wall of the brain-pan. 



It took more than an hour to reassemble my scat- 

 tered men and the natives. Accordino: to their own 

 story, the Wanderobbo ran at least a mile upon 



