68 
ON SAFARI 
traitor breeze. The next moment he was gone as - by 
magic, vanishing from sight as silently as a rabbit. I 
feared he had gone for ever, but instinctively climbed 
down a branch or two, remaining in a position whence 
I could still see over the grass, yet could jump to the 
ground at once. 
What realty passed through the elephant’s mind 
during the succeeding moments I would dearly like to 
know. If at first (as certainty seemed to me) he had, 
for a second, resorted to precipitate flight, that plan was 
almost instantly rejected, for immediately thereafter the 
crashing of the jungle told us he was coming, and then 
the great square forehead appeared, towering above the 
jungle, as he rushed directly upon us. I had jumped 
down from the tree; Archer was five yards to my left, 
w T ith the elephant almost straight above him, when the 
charge stopped. We presumed the great beast had lost 
the wind. What now confronted us, some ten yards 
away, resembled the hoary grey tower of a village 
church. Under a midday, equatorial sun (almost 
vertical) there is no shade to define angles and thus 
indicate the vital spots, nor was there any time to 
consider. I placed my tiny *303 bullet on the temple as 
near as I could judge at the point given in the “ rules,” 
i.e. “ half-way between eye and orifice of ear ” (though 
I could neither see eye nor orifice, and the ear was as 
big as a barn-door). Archer, being directly in front, 
tried the forehead shot, aiming at base of trunk. These 
stunning blows at least turned him off us, for the 
elephant swerved to the left and disappeared. In a 
way, this was a relief, but it was also disappointing. 
Hardly, however, had I got the empty cartridge 
replaced than the beast was on us again. This time he 
crashed across us from left to right; luckily he had 
(very slightly) misjudged his point, and thus passed us 
a few paces in front of our actual positions. We each 
put our bullets into the side of his head, almost at the 
muzzle of our rifles, Archer his single *400 ball, and I 
my two *303’s, followed up by two “ solids” from the 
