CHAP. XXIII. 
THE ELEPHANT-HUNT. 
249 
It was an anxious moment, and each man appeared 
to hold his breath; the Prince stood perfectly calm 
and collected, and not a muscle moved in his face. 
We stood as it were in line; I was on the right of His 
Royal Highness, and Currie again on my right, with 
Grow, the Duke’s man, immediately in his rear, with a 
spare gun. 
We were all waiting on the Duke to bring down 
the elephant. He did not, however, pull trigger until 
the monster was within twenty yards of him, and then 
deliberately fired both barrels into his head. The first 
shot was a shell, which entered the head rather high 
lip over the left eye, passed into the skull, and exploded 
inside, passing out upwards, and carrying away a large 
portion of the upper skull. The second ball entered 
the centre of the head, passed back into the honey¬ 
combed portion of it, and was cut out near the vertebrae. 
After the Prince had fired the rest of our party also 
fired at the monster. I was carrying Lord He wry’s 
rifle, a single-barrelled gun, and my ball passed into the 
very centre of the head, and was cut out of the roots of 
the tongue. Currie, however, was the great man of the 
day after the Royal Prince. He did not so much as 
bring his great elephant-gun from the 6 order ’ until all 
the others had fired—he was determined to do or die. 
It was his intention, whatever came, to save the Prince. 
His Royal Highness, however, has the palm, and 
