g 6 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. ix 
their heads, much as bullocks do when fighting, 
their tusks locked, their gigantic bodies swaying and 
staggering under the terrific force brought into play, 
and this silent struggle continued until the larger of 
the Titans, wrenching his head free, raised his trunk 
and brought it down with a resounding whack on 
his antagonist’s neck. To this stinging punishment, 
his opponent replied with a smashing blow on the 
shoulder with his tusk and, as if desirous of bringing 
the contest to a close, the larger elephant withdrew 
and stood some distance apart. 
Once more, the smaller bull 
opened hostilities by charging 
straight at his antagonist, butting 
him full in the ribs with his 
head and tusks, the sound of 
the collision distinctly reaching 
us where we crouched watching 
this unique conflict. As I gazed 
spell-bound, the extraordinary 
sight, by some strange mental 
trick, induced a peculiar sense 
of unreality, and it seemed, as if 
by some fantastic power, I had 
been carried back to the far¬ 
away pleistocene and was looking 
on in that morning of the world, at some war of 
primeval monsters. The larger bull, staggering 
