xxx A FEW THRILLS AT BANGALLA RIVER 267 
in an open space of about fifteen yards in diameter. 
Three of them were facing away from us, the fourth 
was stolidly gazing in our direction as if expecting 
our approach, although we were to the lee of him. 
Motioning my men to keep absolutely still, I slowly 
raised my rifle, but the brute, seeing the movement, 
advanced rapidly in my direction. When he was 
within ten yards of me, I fired the first barrel, the 
bullet striking him a little above the right eye, and 
finding that this failed to stop him, I again pressed 
the trigger and gave him the contents of the second 
barrel knocking him clean over with a bullet right 
between the eyes. Meanwhile, the others had 
started in our direction and the foremost, charac¬ 
terized by a complete absence of tusks, uttered a 
shrill scream and charged us. I dropped my empty 
rifle, seized another from my tracker, Ntawasie, and 
blazed in the animal’s face. He immediately turned 
and, joined by his companions, smashed through the 
bush at headlong speed, sundering the network pf 
impeding branches and creepers like so much 
cobweb. 
I now turned my attention to the first elephant, 
and finding that he was not dead, gave him his 
quietus. Reloading my rifle, I went in pursuit of 
those that had decamped, but in spite of the copious 
blood spoor, dusk closed in before we could come 
up with them and obliged us to retrace our weary 
