A THRILLING CHARGE 
211 
trophy is to be mounted entire. There were dozens 
of measurements of every part of the body, enough 
to make a dress for a woman, and then came the 
skinning, a prodigious task that took all of the late 
afternoon and evening. We investigated the po¬ 
sition of an elephant’s heart which Kermit Roose¬ 
velt had said was up in the upper third or at the top 
of the second third of the body, a spot which must 
be reached by a shot directed through the point of 
the ear as it lay back. As a matter of fact, an ele¬ 
phant’s heart lies against the brisket, about ten or 
eleven inches from the bottom of the breast. A 
broadside shot through the front leg at the elbow 
would penetrate the heart. 
At nine o’clock, Christmas Eve, the tent arrived 
and was soon put up in the jungle of high grass at 
the middle of the little peninsula. A more African 
scene can not be imagined. The porter’s fires, over 
each of which sticks spitted with elephant meat en 
brochette were cooking, imparted a weird look to 
the river jungle grass and spectral trees. 
At ten o’clock we had our dinner and at eleven 
we put on our pajamas and with the camp-fire burn¬ 
ing before the tent and the armed askaris pacing 
back and forth, gave ourselves up to lazy talk, then 
meditation and then sound sleep. 
It was a wonderful day—one always to be re¬ 
membered. 
The next day, Christmas, came without the usual 
customs of Christmas morn. In the forenoon we 
stuck with the bull elephant, getting its skin and 
