The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-02-28
Elephant Shooting in Western Indin,
Iondon Fisid =

There stood the two full sized fusl-
ers within Easy shooting distance
One had enormously laF-e tusks, and
stood facing me with his head well
UP, so that to reach his brain my bull
let would iced to have penetrated
quite two IGet of trunk The other.
with much srDaiier tusks. stood broad !.
side on, his head screened 10y The ham
boos. Resting one knee, aud with the
muZzie of the express against the
tree, waited, hoping the monster
would lower his head, but when no
shifted his position IL was merely 70
lift his head and trunk Sill higher I'm
search of SucculeDt bamboos. Several
minutes passed in this way. during
which my nerves recovered them
selves. Just then the smaller tasker
! backed a couple of steps snd offered
me the temple Shot. l 4 libeTately
covered him, btaring in my mind all
the coaching had fOrmerl received
from elephant slayers-a line Drawn
from ear to eye as q base f om the
centre OF " hich is raised line at right
angles and six inches high BY Join.
ing the ends of the base with this
apex small imaginary triangle is
formed, within which the bullet must
b. planted. / was in no hurry, felt
quite cool, and aimed at the centre
| OF the 1alal triangle. Bang went
The rifle. Instantly both etvphahts
reared, curling their trunks. Fer a
few seconds thus they faced us, tSfR
turned and fed. Either had no
chance of using them with EFF, CT or il
lid not occur To Inc that ! had a See
ond barrel, besides Il spare gun re,tiDg
ON the tree. 1 couteSs I was lauch
astonished at the little effect OF my
| first fire. It was atterN ards found
that the bullet had bar d itself III a
mass of bone just abol 9 the BRAIN
We could see no blood rail, but the
track left behind their imp tuous
rush was easily followed. Alter
Keeping toge htr for sevi al hundred
Yards they separated . a track was
straight, ana showed III be ~ was
rushing head!ong md sm Ii NJ down
tires aud all before IL We tlok up
ttfis track. rightly thnhng II was
that of tue wounded AMI IaI &c Was
Low $3.50. For t"ur hour aud "a st
as we could walk, we ollow' d the
track, wnea the ga'ue again IN
view. Tie wouneed aninal left
the bamboo juaglts and sought
the thick st overt W followed
and Came on him TINE fer time,
but only his huge ste presented
itself. Finding he vas IO@e Ell lie
made for the ko1meTa. is IS "A sec-i'
onda y growth that coln5s up after
the forest has once been cleared for
cultivation and consists Of thOrns,
bamboo and creept rs. through this
tangled M IS the elephant tore his
way, and il was "a compar lively easy
thing to follow in his tfac z, but next
lto impossible 10 penetrate q any other
direction. When the eleph ant stopped
WE stopped. hoping Away that shot
might be obtained. Az LAST he made
| a longer halt than usual. The RESULT
of his Deliberations WAS carly de-
termination to be rid OF lis pursuers.
as he suddenly turned around and faced
us at thirty yaIds. In.rluctlveiy l
| felt he meant to charge. | mad changed
the express for the smooth Jore, which
is better adapted for quick shooting.
| On came the brute in Iul career. 1t
| is impossible for me TO analyze my
state of mind at that moment. The
uppermost feeling was not that l had
! to kill the beast. but that ] had tostop
the charge. 1t is well did not think
of running, for that would have been
fatal. l reserved fire till he was quite
near, and then blazed into the center Of
his forehead. The shot made him turn
| his head for an instant; but to my hor-
TOR. he still came on, and when within
| five PAGES he received my second shot
on the right temple, two inches above
the eye. l then turned and Fl d down
the track. In supreme moments Of
peril we can often maintain our pres
ence of mind Luckily, it was SO in
his case, and the slippieg ia of two
cartridges was the work Gf'-a few sec
onds. 1 then faced round. aad, 10 my
unspeakable relief, the ia inflated beast
was nc, longer charging. There he lay
dead IN bis tracks with one and one
quarter ounZe OF lead lodged in his
brain. He bad fallen noiselessly, his
tusks buried deep in the ground. The
reaction now seJ.sn and felt my legs
broken, the result OF nigh nervous
tension during the brief but fierce enc
counter. AT the beginning of the
charge my Kuraba friends had all
swarmed up a tree, and they now
called out not to go near tie beast as
he might be feigning. We cautious
ly approached. and soon found the
noble animal was robbed OF all his
terrors and lay still in death. was
now possessed of feeling of intense
Joy. 1t was two o'clock and having
eaten nothing sine" daybreak, he flrSt
thing to think of was lunch. we fheS
cut off the end of the tail and made
for home. The Kurdbas are guided
through the forest by instinct, aud We
struck out on d bee line, reaching the
point where the horse was left within