The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1909-02-25
nd are easily approached.

high, we came across q herd Of about
twenty elephants, among which there
were some fine bull tusks. AS I
expected, they were all resting out of
the sun. They were difficult to get
at on account OF the thickness OF the
underground It meant long pa
tient crawl to good shooting posi-
ton, for to shoot at anything but
close quarters in such country meant
that the bullet would be DETECTED by
the bush. / put solid nickel bal
in the right barrel of my six-hundred
caliber express for a head shot, and
a soft nose split in the left barrel
for body shot, With the shikaree
at my side and the gun bearer at
my back, we crept silently, inch by
inch, foot by foot, through the huge
tufts of grass till good view of the
game presented itself.
I took off my coat and hat, hung
them on low limb and crawled fe
yards farther on. AS could not get
a vital shot at any Of the elephants
in their lying positions I gave my
sharp whistle. In an instance they
were upon their feet thrusting their
trunks up in the air to get a scent
of their enemies and holding out their
enormous ears to catch the slightest
sound At last an old bull worked in
to the right position. aimed at his
weakest pont, between the eye and
ear, and gave him the solid shot. Ny
aim was bad; piece of his tusk
flew into the air. With a roar he
charged down on me like an ava
lanche.
leveled my express for a second
shot and the natives stood ready.
Down he came, the grass waving be-
fore him in pillows. ! waited fifty,
forty, thirty, twenty yards, another
second S suspense and-bangl I
gave him the soft bullet full in the
chest. 1t failed to stop him. A
screeching roar of pain burst from
the charging monster and blood gush-
ed from his trunk. / snatched my
Mauser and jumped aside as he pass
ed. My hat and coat, which were a
few yards behind, attracted his. at
tention. With a snort of satisfaction
he crushed them down. / gave him
all my Mauser shots in the rear.
With extraordinary suddenness he
turned. He sighted me and charg-
ed, his tusks level with my body. My
magazine was empty. | threw my
rifle down and ran, the elephant
gaining on me at each step. / saw
Nick ahead of me with leveled rifle.
To keep running meant that
would soon be overtaken. Instinc-
lively I threw myself on the ground
and Nick fired. With a thud that
made the earth tremble the elephant
dropped. The huge trunk twisted
like wounded snake for a moment,
and then the gigantic body relaxed in
death. 1t all took about two minutes
to happen and was pretty close shave.
but it was worth the trouble, for
the tusks we got were big, weighing
close to a hundred pounds.
A few months after this occurrence,
on the same trip, lost Nick, my
Senegal "boy," under terrible circum-
stances. This brave man who had
hunted everything in Africa from the
Cape to Cairo, and from Zanzibar to
Banana, boasted many a time that
he would never be killed by anything
but old age. But he was too sure.
Long association with danger made
him careless, and this cost him his
life.
We were treking south toward Lake
Tanganyika along a native path run
ming parallel with the Rusizi River.
1t was frightful hot, SO hot that the
gun barrels burned our hands. The
porters staggered under their heavy
loads in a long string ,mumbling songs
each in his native tongue, to keep
up his tagged spirits, and the sun
rays danced in misty vibrations from
the parched earth. Suddenly the jun
gle ceased and we broke into the OPP
en- weld Four hundred yards away,
coming in the opposite direction, was
a herd of at least twenty elephants.
They had evidently made a long jour-
ney and were suffering from the in
tense heat Some of them were occu-
pied in thrusking their trunks into
their mouths and drawing water from
their stomachs. With this water they
were sprinkling their sunburned backs
This is habit that elephants always
practice when they are overheated
and cannot find the shade Of a friend
ly forest.
To me the sight Of the approach
ing herd was welcome. I saw ivory
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