I called a halt, and then the wind being right, we set to work to stalk the bull.  Very quietly I rode down the hither side of the slope till we came to the bottom, which was densely covered with bush.  Here I saw the elephants had been feeding, for broken branches and upturned trees lay all about.  I did not take much notice, however, for all my thoughts were fixed upon the bull I was stalking, when suddenly my horse gave a violent start that nearly threw me from the saddle, and there came a mighty rush and upheaval of something in front of me.  I looked:  there was the hinder part of a second bull elephant not four yards off.  I could just catch sight of its outstretched ears projecting on either side.  I had disturbed it sleeping, and it was running away.

Obviously the best thing to do would have been to let it run, but I was young in those days and foolish, and in the excitement of the moment I lifted my “roer” or elephant gun and fired at the great brute over my horse’s head.  The recoil of the heavy gun nearly knocked me off the horse.  I recovered myself, however, and, as I did so, saw the bull lurch forward, for the impact of a three-ounce bullet in the flank will quicken the movement even of an elephant.  By this time I had realized the folly of the shot, and devoutly hoped that the bull would take no further notice of it.  But he took a different view of the matter.  Pulling himself up in a series of plunges, he spun round and came for me with outstretched ears and uplifted trunk, screaming terribly.  I was quite defenceless, for my gun was empty, and my first thought was of escape.  I dug my heels into the sides of my horse, but he would not move an inch.  The poor animal was paralyzed with terror, and he simply stood still, his fore-legs outstretched, and quivering all over like a leaf.

On rushed the elephant, awful to see; I made one more vain effort to stir the horse.  Now the trunk of the great bull swung aloft above my head.  A thought flashed through my brain.  Quick as light I rolled from the saddle.  By the side of the horse lay a fallen tree, as thick through as a man’s body.  The tree was lifted a little off the ground by the broken boughs which took its weight, and with a single movement, so active is one in such necessities, I flung myself beneath it.  As I did so, I heard the trunk of the elephant descend with a mighty thud on the back of my poor horse, and the next instant I was almost in darkness, for the horse, whose back was broken, fell over across the tree under which I lay ensconced.  But he did not stop there long.  In ten seconds more the bull had wound his trunk about my dead nag’s neck, and, with a mighty effort, hurled him clear of the tree.  I wriggled backwards as far as I could towards the roots of the tree, for I knew what he was after.  Presently I saw the red tip of the bull’s trunk stretching itself towards me.  If he could manage to hook it round any part of me I was lost.  But in the position