XIII 
STIRRING TIMES AT LECUNDI 
i33 
was standing, most likely on the look out for his 
pursuers. 
Owing to the shade of the tree and the 
surrounding thicket of tall grass, a decisive shot at 
the animal was impossible, for I could only discern 
the top of one enormous ear, and the tip of his trunk, 
the latter uplifted and sniffing for our scent. The 
difficulty now was to decide on some satisfactory plan 
of action, and I felt it would be inadvisable to tempt 
the brute to charge us, for it is no easy matter to 
place a bullet in a vital spot when the approaching 
animal is almost entirely hidden by dense grass until 
he is actually on you. Finding that the wind had 
completely dropped, and noticing, about three 
hundred yards to our left, a hillock from which it 
was probable that I should be able to get a better 
view of the elephant, we retraced our steps for some 
thirty paces, and cautiously made our way towards 
this eminence. From its summit, I could dimly 
discern our quarry, so fixing a telescopic sight to my 
light *318 rifle, I discovered that he had left the 
shade of the tree and was now standing in the long 
grass at an angle to the path which he had made. 
Above the vegetation, I could clearly see his gigantic 
black ears flapping, and being able, thereby, roughly 
to calculate the position of his forehead, I decided 
to risk a shot, knowing that if I deferred matters 
much longer the failing light would make it impossible 
