ESCAPE FROM AN ELEPHANT. 
387 
at a tearing gallop through a thick tangled bush, and 
underwood, mostly hack-thorns, over which my nag 
jumped like a buck. He was very nearly on his 
head three or four times, as the soil was very heavy, 
sandy, and full of holes. The monster was all this 
time dose in my wake; at length, I got clear from 
him, and he turned and made off in the opposite 
direction at his best pace. As soon as I could pull 
up, which I managed after performing three or four 
circles, I jumped off, righted my bridle, and went 
after him like the wind, as he had a long start, and 
I was afraid of losing him in thick bush. After 
giving him ten shots, and sustaining three more 
savage charges, the last a long and silent one — far 
from pleasant, as my horse had all the puff taken out 
of him, and he could only manage to keep his own 
before the brute—to my great satisfaction he at length 
fell, to rise no more. I had long been quite exhausted, 
and could not even put a cap on the nipple. Boccas, 
on Batwing, turned up about an hour after ; he said 
he fired all his powder away, giving his elephant six¬ 
teen bullets to no purpose; but the horse looked quite 
fresh, and both barrels were loaded, and every man 
has a perfect right to form his own opinion as to the 
reason why and wherefore. 
Elephant hunting is the very hardest life a man 
can chalk out for himself. Two blank days, riding 
five hours at a foot’s pace to a vley, where the 
Masaras tell you they have drunk ; sleeping in the 
bush, with nothing to eat; a drink of muddy water 
c c 2 
