Seeking African Gold and Game 
IV.— An Elephant that Carried Old Lead — Saving a 
Native’s Life—Eli’s Venture—The Zambesi River 
By JOHN A. M. LETHBRIDGE 
F OR two days we saw nothing worthy of 
notice, though the whole country had been 
traveled by elephants, but on the third day 
we struck the fresh spoor of six. I followed and 
overtook them within two hours of first seeing 
their tracks. There were two bulls, one a very 
large one with short but heavy tusks, the other 
only a small one. When I first saw them they 
were crossing an open and were easily visible to 
the naked eye. With my glasses I could not see 
whether the tusks were heavy or not. We 
waited until they had entered the timber on the 
opposite side and then followed. They were 
drinking at a small stream when I fired my first 
shot at the big bull, at not more than sixty 
yards. I tried the brain shot and made a mess 
of it, for although he dropped on his knees and 
for one moment I thought I had him, the next 
instant he was ofif. and although I fired my 
second barrel, trying to make a raking shot, it 
seemed to have no effect, and they went as hard 
as they could. That he was fatally wounded I 
did not doubt, but I advised following with cau¬ 
tion. After going about half a mile I caught 
sight of him going alone up a small incline. 
The remainder had left him, and although he 
was going very slowly and apparently was 
groggy, I had no wish to force matters. Two 
hundred yards further on he sank down, and 
getting close to him I gave him another brain 
shot, which was successful. 
On examining this elephant I found marks 
where he had been shot twice before quite re¬ 
cently, one shot in the shoulder and the other 
at the base of his trunk. We dug out the bullet 
from the shoulder, but it was quite impossible 
to say certainly what rifle had been used. I 
thought it was a Martini. Perhaps some native 
had fired the shot. 
The life of a bull elephant is not a happy one. 
Every man’s hand is against him, and everyone 
is trying for his ivory. A few more years and 
a big bull will be a rara avis, although there are 
still large herds roaming about which have not 
been much hunted. I believe the best place now 
to go after elephant is the Nile Provinces. There 
they are still plenty. A friend of mine who re¬ 
turned from there last year told me that he had 
seen plenty, had bagged three good bulls, and 
that if he had wanted to he could have shot 
several more. Licenses there are not so expen¬ 
sive, and the restrictions are very much more 
liberal than in the more fashionable countries. 
I returned to camp and sent out boys under 
Overcoat to hack out the ivory and bring it back, 
but though the tusks were thick, they were very- 
short and I was disappointed at their weight. 
They weighed sixty and sixty-eight pounds, but 
when I first saw the bull I put them down as 
very much larger. 
The next day I went out to get some meat for 
camp, and crossing a piece of open ground saw 
four eland. They were moving and I tried to 
cut them off and did so, but when I again saw 
them it was in thick timber. I shot a cow by 
mistake for the bull. People who have never 
seen an eland can scarcely realize what a great 
fine beast it is, and the meat is very fine, as 
good as the very best beef. The boys were busy 
all day long making themselves new sandals. 
That night we had lions round the camp, evi¬ 
dently attracted by the meat. They did not come 
close in, yet I thought it wise to keep a good 
fire going the whole night to discourage any 
closer acquaintance. At daylight we went and 
saw plainly the spoor of three lions. I would 
have liked to remain here a day' or two, but the 
country was so open it was impossible to say 
where we were likely to strike them, and I de¬ 
cided to go on. That day while on the march 
I came across the remains of a sable cow which 
had evidently been killed by lions. She was 
about half eaten and I decided to camp about 
two miles off and to go back to the carcass early 
the next morning. A lion will not often kill 
sable antelope. This one may have been a crip¬ 
ple, or a very old weak one, but this carcass was 
so far gone that it was impossible to diagnose 
anything. 
That night we heard lions around, though not 
as close as the night before, and before day¬ 
light Eli brought me a cup of coffee and told 
me to get up and come along. I did not care 
about starting out before it was light enough 
to see where we were going and I was right 
too, as the sequel will show. When we left 
camp it was just light enough to see fifty or 
sixty yards and we had only gone half a mile 
when Eli excitedly pointed out two animals 
walking slowly along ei'ghty yards to our right. 
I saw in a moment that they were a lion and 
a lioness, but they were absolutely unconscious 
of our presence. They were going in the direc¬ 
tion of the carcass and were no doubt the perpe¬ 
trators of the kill. We halted and let them go 
on and about ten minutes later started again. 
Before we came within sight of what remained 
of the carcass we could hear, them snarling and 
fighting over their feast. It was a marvelous 
sight that greeted my eyes when I could see the 
kill. There were three lions, two lions and one 
lioness, but one lion, evidently a younger one, 
was lying off about twenty yards, having evi¬ 
dently been driven away by the larger one, and 
there were the two eating at the meat, growling 
and snarling the whole time. I wished I had 
brought a camera with me, but had I had one I 
very much doubt if I should have had the pluck 
to use it. 
For a few seconds I hesitated as to what to 
do, but then I fired at the lioness and killed 
her the first shot. My second barrel I fired at 
the lion, which was so astonished that he never 
moved. I ought to have killed him also, but 
though I hit him—as I plainly heard my bullet 
strike and his growl of rage—he bounded away 
as if untouched. 
On -reaching the lioness we could see the blood 
spoor of the lion, and after skinning her out I 
followed it up. I left Eli and one boy to take 
back the skin to camp and went on with Over¬ 
coat and the boy. I had no reason to doubt 
Overcoat's bravery, but as I went along I did 
wonder at these two. Both carried short stab¬ 
bing assegais, and these, to a person who knows 
■how to use them, are a most efficient weapon. 
We were just going through a small piece of 
long grass and bush when, like a flash without 
the slightest warning, the lion charged. I was 
in front and the wonder is that he did not at¬ 
tack me, but he passed me by and sprang on the 
boy, knocking him down, and the lion and boy 
were in one big mix up and so entangled that 
for a moment I did not dare shoot. There are 
times when one must take chances and I shot, 
but at the same instant Overcoat was using his 
assegai with deadly effect. I no longer had doubts 
about his pluck, but my shot had been successful, 
anyway. On pulling the lion off, we found the boy 
was almost untouched. He' had a few deepish 
scratches on his right arm and shoulders, but 
a few drops of pure carbolic acid—although it 
made him yell for a few minutes—soon put him 
to rights and my respect for both had greatly 
increased. My belief is that in a mixup be¬ 
tween man and a lion one must not delay about 
shooting. There is a risk about it and by bad 
luck you may kill the man or both, but the 
chances are well worth taking. If left alone in 
the unequal fight, the man is sure to be worsted 
and mauled. I can imagine no more frightful 
death than being mauled by a lion. We got the 
