The recoil of the
"Baby," loaded with ten drachms of the strongest powder and a
half-pound shell, spun me round like a top--it was difficult to
say which was staggered the most severely, the elephant or
myself; however, we both recovered, and I seized one of my double
rifles, a Reilly No. 10, that was quickly pushed into my hand by
my Tokroori, Hadji Ali. This was done just in time, as an
elephant from the baffled herd turned sharp round, and, with its
immense ears cocked, it charged down upon us with a scream of
rage. "One of us she must have if I miss!"
This was the first downright charge of an African elephant that
I had seen, and instinctively I followed my old Ceylon plan of
waiting for a close shot. She lowered her head when within about
six yards, and I fired low for the centre of the forehead,
exactly in the swelling above the root of the trunk. She
collapsed to the shot, and fell dead, with a heavy shock, upon
the ground. At the same moment, the thorny barrier gave way
before the pressure of the herd, and the elephants disappeared in
the thick jungle, through which it was impossible to follow them.
I had suffered terribly from the hooked thorns, and the men
likewise.
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