52 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. 
battle should his pursuers come into view. Finding 
that I could get an unobstructed view of his 
head from where I stood, I raised my rifle, and 
carefully judging the angle to his brain, pressed the 
trigger. The bullet smashed into his skull close to 
his ear-hole and brought him down with a 
stupendous crash, his head and tusks being 
entangled in the tough ropes of the creepers. 
Kom-Kom the Mighty One was no more ! I 
raised the cry : Socolai ! Socolai! (It is finished ! 
It is finished!) and instantly my trackers repeated 
the exultant yell. It rang deep and sonorous 
through the silence of the forest and far away 
it was faintly echoed by my men and some 
villagers who were following us up: Socolai! 
Socolai! 
Rolled up in our blankets, we passed the night 
in the forest not far from where Kom-Kom lay 
dead. From my rough couch, I could see our 
camp fires throwing mysterious shadows into the 
luxuriant tropical foilage ; through the leaves above 
my head, shone here and there a bright star. But 
the beauties of nature appeal but little to a tired 
man and, ere long, in spite of the discomfort of 
a cut face and torn elbow, I had slipped into sound 
slumber. 
Early next morning, villagers of both sexes 
and all ages arrived en masse on the scene, 
