i 3 4 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. 
to take definite aim. Adjusting the telescopic sight 
to four hundred yards, I fired for what I took to be 
the centre of his forehead, but, the bullet striking him 
too high, he uttered a shrill scream of rage and 
charged in our direction. As he came on, I gave him 
a second bullet in the face, which deflected him from 
his course and sent him crashing through the reeds 
to our left. Fearing that I was now going to lose 
him, I got Ntawasie, a fine strong, strapping fellow, 
to hoist me on his shoulders, and from that coign 
of vantage I quickly emptied the three remaining 
cartridges out of my magazine into the departing 
elephant, trusting to reach a vital spot or further 
disable him, but they failed to bring him down, and, 
shortly afterwards, the bush had again swallowed 
him up. Suddenly we heard a terrified yell—and a 
distinctly human one—coming from the direction 
which the animal had taken, and, Simba, turning to 
me, said excitedly :—‘ Master, the elephant has met 
our men who are following us up,’ and his conjec¬ 
ture, as we subsequently discovered, proved to be 
correct. What had actually happened was as 
follows. My cook and my other boy, Usufu, 
fearing I might be obliged to pass a night without 
food or water, had hastily packed a few necessaries 
together and followed us up, and on hearing the 
firing had departed from our tracks and veered to 
the right, only to meet the elephant rushing madly 
