Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1888-10-11

yards from me, stood the three enormous
elephants.
'They stood thus: Immediately opposite
and facing me was the wounded one tusked
bull. He was leaning his bulk against a
dead thorn tree, the only one in the place, and
looked very sick, indeed. Near him stood
the second bull, as though keeping a watch
over him. The third elephant was good
deal nearer to M, and broadside on. While
was still staring at them this elephant sud
denly walked off and vanished down path
in the bush to the right.
"There were now two things to be done:
either | could go back to the camp, and adj
vance upon the elephants at dawn, or could
attack them at once. The first was, of course,
by far the wisest and safest course To go
for one elephant by moonlight, and single
handed, is a sufficiently rash proceeding; to
tackle three was little short of lunacy. But,
on the other hand, l knew that they would be
ON the march again before daylight, and
there might come another day Of weary
trldging before / could catch them up, or
they might escape me altogether.
Ono thought to myself, faint heart
never won fair tusk. I'll risk it and have a
slap at them But howF could not adj
vance across the open, for they would see me.
Clearly the only thing to do was to creep
round in the shadow of the bush, and try TO
c me upon them. So | started. Seven or
eight minutes of careful stalking brought me
TO the mouth of the path down which the third
elephant had walked. The other two were
now about fifty yards from me, ond the ma
ture of the wall of bush was such that
could not see how to get nearer to them
without being discovered. | hesitated, and
peeped down the path which the elephant
had followed. About five yards in it took a
turn round bush. | thought that | would
just have LOOK behind it, and advanced, ex-
pecting that | should be able to catch a sight
of the elephants tail.
"As it happened, however, met his trunk
coming round the corner. 1t is very discon-
certing to see an elephants trunk when you
expect to sce his tail, and for a moment |
stood pardly zed almost under the vast brute's
head, for he was not five yards from me. He,
too, halted, having either seen or wiuded Inc,
probably the latter, and then threw up his
trunk mud trumpeted, preparatory to a
charge. | was in for il now, for | could not
escape either 10 the right or left on ac-
count OF the bush, and did not dare turn
my back SO | did the only thing tt |
could do, raised the rife and fired at the
black mass Of his chest 1t was too dark for
me to pick shot; | could only brown it, as
Il were.
THE shot rung ont like thunder on the
quiet air, and the elephant answered it with
a scream, and then dropped his trunk, and
stood for a second or two as still as though
he had been cut in stone | confess that |
lost my head-I ought to have fred my sec
ond barrel, but did not Instead Of doing
so, rapidly opened my rifle, pulled out the
old cartridge from the right barrel and re-
placed it, But before could snap the breech
TO, the bull was at me. | saw his great trunk
fly up like n brown beam, and | waited no
longer Turning, | fed for dear life, and
after me Numbered the elephant. Right into
the open glade ran, and then, thank hea-
ven, just as he was coming up with me. the
bullet took effect on him. He had been shot
right through the heart, or lungs, and down |
he fell with a crash, stone dead.
but in escaping from Scylla had run
INTO the jaws of Charybdis heard the ele-
Dhant fall and glanced round Straight in
'front.' of me, and not fifteen PAGES away, |
we're the other two bulls They were staring |
If me. Then they came, the pair of them |
anne like thunderbots, and from different /
Ingles. | had only time TO snap my rifle to. 4
lift it, and fire, almost at haphazard, at the 1
lead of the nearest, the unwounded bull
Now, as you know, in the case of the
African elephant, whose skull is convex aud
lot concave like that of the Indian, this is
.lways a most risky and very frequently
Perfectly useless shot. The bullet loses itself
n the masses of bone, that is all. But there
5 one little vital place, and should the bullet
appen to strike there it will follow the chan
el of the nostrils-at least suppose it is the
ostrils-and reach the brain. And it was
What happened in this case; the ball struck
he fatal spot in the region Of the eye and
raveled TO the brain. Down came the great
ull all Of a heap, and rolled on To his side
S dead as a stone. l swung round at that
lstant TO face the third, the monster bull
nth one tusk that l had wounded two DAYS
efore He was already almost over me,
nd in the dim moonlight seemed to tower
bove me like house. lifted the rifle and
ulled at his neck. 1t would not 60 of. /
hen, in a flash as it were, remembered
nat it was on the half cock. The lock Of the
ariel was little weak, and a few DAYS be-
,re, in firing at a COW Gland, the left barrel
nd Jared off at the shock of the discharge
the right, knocking me backward with
ne recoil; so after that had kept it on the
llf cock till actually wanted to fire it.
81 gave one desperate bound to the right, b
nd, my lame leg notwithstanding. believe
lat few men could have made better
imp. At any rate it was none too soon, for
) jumped | felt the wind made by the [
emendous downward stroke of the monsters
unk. Then ran for it,
II ran like the wind, still keeping hold of /
y gun, however. My idea, so far as | could
; said to have any fixed idea, was to bolt ,
'wn the pathway up which had come, like {
rabbit down a burrow, trusting that he /
ould lose sight of me in the uncertain light {
sped across the glade Fortunately, the {
Ill, being wounded, could not GO full speed, |
1t wounded or no, he could go quite as fast G
| could. was unable to gain an inch. I
I'd away we went with just about three feet I
tween our separate extremities. We we're !
the other side now, and glance served to 1
ow me that | had miscalculated and over
OF the opening. To reach it now was hope a
$; should have Numbered straight into h
e elephant. So did the only thing could i