Ill 
BIG GAME SHOOTING , 1887 
55 
he had no doubt winded us, or one of the men who had been 
sent to look for him. 
Going as fast as we could, we ran along the high bank to 
intercept him, and if possible to get below and to leeward of 
him before beginning the attack, but as we got nearly abreast 
he saw us and broke into a shambling trot. Seeing that he 
was escaping, I opened fire with the four -bore, though the 
range was at least seventy yards. At the shots he spun round 
and turned up-stream again at a great rate. Bathed in per- 
spiration from the hot sun, and desperately thirsty, I followed 
as fast as I could, and at last, in the distance up the river, 
appeared the two horsemen, with red tassels flying and spears 
flashing in the sun, galloping down at full speed to head the 
elephant. This had the effect of forcing him to plunge into 
the broad bed of reeds, where he pulled up, comparatively 
secure from attack. It so happened, however, that he had 
chosen a spot where the steep river-bank overlooked the reeds, 
so that on going to the edge and peeping over, I could see his 
head and the ridge of his back just rising above them. The 
range was far, over sixty yards, but firing from where we were 
was preferable to the impossible task of trying to approach him 
noiselessly in the reeds, so, aiming for the temple, I opened fire 
again. A right and left w T ere answered by an unmistakable 
crack as of a big bullet hitting bone, and by a “ swish ” as the 
second shot, going over the mark, went innocently through the 
tops of the reeds. The first shot, however, had told, boring a 
clean hole through the flap of the ear and entering the skull 
rather far back. The elephant gave a shrill trumpet, spread out 
his ears, and spun round facing us, then he swung back into the 
original position. 
Another shot, fired at the place where I guessed his shoulder 
to be, made him throw up his trunk and subside into the reeds, 
but he was up again in an instant, looking very sick. This 
would never do, so climbing down the steep scarp to the lower 
level, and edging carefully round the margin of the reeds fill 
nearly opposite him, and then going in a little way so that I 
could see his temple above the reeds some thirty yards away, 
I took a very careful aim and fired. The elephant dropped at 
once, and when my Somalis, who were standing on the bank 
beyond him, raised a hunting-song, I knew that he was dead. 
We now went in, following the path he had made into the 
reeds, and found him lying on his side ; one tusk was four 
