26 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. ii 
the small bullet proved absolutely ineffectual, and 
as he continued his onward career, I drove another 
through his forehead, hoping to reach his brain 
and drop him. Still he came on, with head 
lowered, trunk extended, and blood streaming 
down his face, and was within fifteen yards of 
me, when I pulled back the bolt of my rifle to drive 
another cartridge into the breech, only to discover, 
to my horror, that the magazine was empty. In 
the excitement of the hunt, I had completely 
forgotten that I had already spent two of the five 
cartridges on the last bull I had shot! There 
was no time, however, to curse my stupidity, so, 
fully convinced that this, as far as I was concerned, 
was the end of all things, I flung my rifle with 
all my might into the elephant’s face and sprang 
to the left. At the same moment, I heard a 
terrific report a few inches behind me, and turned 
to find Simba standing with my heavy rifle in his 
hands. Seeing my predicament, he had slipped 
a cartridge into the weapon and fired it at the 
animal in the very nick of time, the bullet passing 
through the brute’s trunk and crashing into his 
mouth. Immediately swerving to the right, the 
elephant collided with a tree, knocking it over 
like a ninepin, and bursting through the branches, 
as if they had been so much matchwood, continued 
his wild career for another fifty yards before coming 
