116 
TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 
Some time afterwards^ on their way across the country to 
Akaba Shamhyl^ the whole party were indebted entirely to the 
hunters for their support; and when about half-way across the 
isthmus formed by the Bahar il Gazal and White Biver^ a herd of 
elephants were discovered in jungle. A few shots dispersed 
them^ and Carlo_, with three men, followed the track of one^ who, 
badly wounded, led them to an open plain. Here the elephant, 
a heavy tusker, chose to fight it out, and accepting the challenge, 
the hunters, walking boldly up, fired a volley at forty yards. 
The again wounded and now furious animal charged them in- 
stantly, and the party, dividing into pairs, had to run for safety. 
At their utmost speed, the elephant kept pace, and Carious com- 
panion, being nearly exhausted, abandoned his heavy rifle ; a little 
farther, and the man, thoroughly beaten, threw himself behind the 
shelter of an ant-hill, and fortunately escaped. Carlo, still hotly 
pursued, strained every sinew to its utmost, and bounded over 
treacherous creeping plants, brambles, crevices, and uneven ground, 
that opposed his onward course. His best efforts seemed of no 
avail; he feared to cast a look behind, but felt that his huge 
pursuer was gaining on him. His breath became thick, his chest 
seemed closing around the lungs, and a dreaminess coming over 
him, he was conscious only of falling, unable to recover himself, 
and destitute of a thought for safety. The elephant also evi- 
dently ran his best, sometimes with his trunk stretched after 
his flying enemy, at others using it to pick up stones, bits of 
earth, and dust, to throw at him. A cloud of the latter probably 
prevented his seeing the fallen hunter, whom scanty herbage but 
barely sufficed to cover. Passing him unnoticed, the baffled 
animal stopped, and raised his trunk perpendicularly, to catch his 
scent ; but fortunately the slight breeze came from a direction 
