248 ELEPHANT-HUNTING [ch. x 
animal was a cow or a bull, and whether, if a bull, it 
carried heavy enough tusks. Then we saw that it was 
a big bull with good ivory. It turned its head in my 
direction and I saw its eye, and I fired a little to one 
side of the eye, at a spot which I thought would lead 
to the brain. I struck exactly where I aimed, but the 
head of an elephant is enormous and the brain small, 
and the bullet missed it. However, the shock momen¬ 
tarily stunned the beast. He stumbled forward, half 
falling, and as he recovered I fired with the second 
barrel, again aiming for the brain. This time the bullet 
sped true, and as I lowered the rifle from my shoulder, 
I saw the great lord of the forest come crashing to the 
ground. 
But at that very instant, before there was a moment’s 
time in which to reload, the thick bushes parted im¬ 
mediately on my left front, and through them surged 
the vast bulk of a charging bull elephant, the matted 
mass of tough creepers snapping like packthread before 
his rush. He was so close that he could have touched 
me with his trunk. 1 leaped to one side and dodged 
behind a tree trunk, opening the rifle, throwing out the 
empty shells, and slipping in two cartridges. Meanwhile 
Cuninghame fired right and left, at the same time throw¬ 
ing himself into the bushes on the other side. Both his 
bullets went home, and the bull stopped short in his 
charge, wheeled, and immediately disappeared in the 
thick cover. We ran forward, but the forest had closed 
over his wake. We heard him trumpet shrilly, and 
then all sounds ceased. 
The ’Ndorobo, who had quite properly disappeared 
when this second bull charged, now went forward and 
soon returned with the report that he had fled at speed, 
but was evidently hard hit, as there was much blood on 
