Ill 
TOUCH AND GO 
35 
with one hand, while he pointed excitedly with the 
other to where the elephant stood sniffing the air, 
some thirty yards away. I made a desperate effort 
to rise to my feet, but found, to my intense dismay, 
that owing to the injuries I had received, this was 
an impossibility. My back, head, and legs felt as if 
they had been thoroughly beaten, my left hip was 
terribly bruised, while my left eye was almost 
closed up, but, judge of my annoyance, when I 
discovered that my left thumb was dislocated and 
my left arm and shoulder so badly strained that I 
was quite unable to hold my rifle in position. In 
the 7 nette, I had dropped my heavy *577 elephant 
rifle, so bidding Simba sit down beside me, I 
managed, with some difficulty, to place my *318 
across his shoulder and fire for the elephants ear ; 
but owing to the shaking I had received, I couldn’t, 
try as I would, keep my rifle steady, and the bullet, 
instead of hitting him in the desired spot and 
penetrating his brain, went wide and struck him 
high up on the right side of the head. At once, he 
slewed round and advanced towards us as if utterly 
surprised to find that he had failed to annihilate his 
enemy. So, telling Simba to hold my rifle barrel 
firmly, I drove another cartridge into the breech 
and waited patiently for my bulky opponent. 
When he was within fourteen or fifteen yards of 
us, I took aim and making a supreme effort to 
d 2 
