I Could
Easily Have Touched It With My Rifle, But Just At This Moment It Either
Obtained My Wind Or It Heard The Rustle Of The Men.
It quickly turned
its head half round toward me; in the same instant I took the
temple-shot, and by the flash of the rifle I saw that it fell.
Jumping
forward past the huge body, I fired the left-hand barrel at an elephant
that had advanced from the herd; it fell immediately! Now came the
moment for a grand rush, as they stumbled in confusion over the last
fallen elephant, and jammed together in a dense mass with their immense
ears outspread, forming a picture of intense astonishment! Where were my
spare guns? Here was an excellent opportunity to run in and floor them
right and left!
Not a man was in sight! Everybody had bolted, and I stood in advance of
the dead elephant calling for my guns in vain. At length one of my
fellows came up, but it was too late. The fallen elephant in the herd
had risen from the ground, and they had all hustled off at a great pace,
and were gone. I had only bagged one elephant. Where was the valiant
Bacheet - the would-be Nimrod, who for the last three months had been
fretting in inactivity, and longing for the moment of action, when he
had promised to be my trusty gun-bearer? He was the last man to appear,
and he only ventured from his hiding-place in the high dhurra when
assured of the elephants' retreat.
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