CH. Ill 
TOUCH AND GO 
33 
lowered his enormous head, and screaming with 
rage, charged straight at me! The celerity and 
determination with which he came on was not 
calculated to inspire equanimity, but it was a 
moment when the necessity for keeping cool was 
paramount, so, patiently waiting till he was within 
twenty paces of me, I gave him the contents of the 
second barrel full in the face. Though the bullet 
tore through his left eye and emerged on the same 
side of the head, it utterly failed, to my amazement, 
to stop or turn him, and, next moment, he was upon 
me. A vicious blow from his tusk sent me hurtling 
against my tracker, Simba, who was a few paces 
away from me on my right, and together we came 
heavily to earth. Ere I had time to scramble to 
my feet, the elephant had turned, and seizing me by 
my khaki shirt underneath the right shoulder, flung 
me high above him in the air. Though rudely 
shaken, I was vividly conscious of all that was 
occurring, and, curiously enough, as I spun through 
space, the awful conviction flashed through my mind 
that I had seen the last of my hunting days. I 
landed on the elephant’s back, rolled helplessly off 
and came with a thud to earth, where I still had 
sufficient presence of mind to lie absolutely motion¬ 
less to avoid further attracting his attention. I had 
fallen on my face and lay with my lower limbs 
beneath his towering, bulky body, between his fore 
D 
