At The Bottom Of One
Of These Undulations, Among A Number Of Skeleton Trees, That
Afforded No Shade, We Discovered
The elephants, standing in the
high withered grass, that entirely concealed all but the upper
portion of their heads; they
Were amusing themselves by tearing
up the trees, and feeding upon the succulent roots. I ordered
Taher Noor and Bacheet each to take a horse and rifle, and to
lead them, together with my hunter Aggahr, about a hundred yards
behind me, while I advanced towards the elephants on foot. At the
sound of the first shot they were to mount, and to bring my horse
and spare guns as rapidly as possible. Unfortunately, the herd
was alarmed by a large bull giraffe that was asleep in the grass,
which started up within thirty yards of us, and dashed off in
terror through the mass of elephants. Their attention was roused,
and they moved off to my left, which change of position
immediately gave them our wind. There was no time to lose, as the
herd was in retreat; and, as they were passing across my path, at
about two hundred paces distance, I ran at my best speed,
stumbling through the broken pie-crust, and sinking in the
yawning crevices, the sides of which were perfectly rotten, until
I arrived within shot of about twenty-five elephants. I was just
on the point of firing at the temple of a large animal that was
within about ten yards, when it suddenly turned, and charged
straight at me.
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