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 had
likewise. This had been a capital trial for my Tokrooris, who had
behaved remarkably well, and had gained much confidence by my successful
forehead-shot at the elephant when in full charge; but I must confess
that this is the only instance in which I have succeeded in killing an
African elephant by the front shot, although I have steadily tried the
experiment upon subsequent occasions.
We had very little time to examine the elephant, as we were far from
home and the sun was already low. I felt convinced that the other
elephant could not be far off, after having received the "Baby's"
half-pound shell carefully directed, and I resolved to return on the
following morning with many people and camels to divide the flesh. It
was dark by the time we arrived at the tents, and the news immediately
spread through the Arab camp that two elephants had been killed.
On the following morning we started, and upon arrival at the dead
elephant we followed the tracks of that wounded by the "Baby." The blood
upon the bushes guided us in a few minutes to the spot where the
elephant lay dead, at about three hundred yards' distance. The whole day
passed in flaying the two animals and cutting off the flesh, which was
packed in large gum sacks, with which the camels were loaded. I was
curious to examine the effect of the half-pound shell. It had entered
the flank on the right side, breaking the rib upon which it had
exploded; it had then passed through the stomach and the lower portion
of the lungs, both of which were terribly shattered; and breaking one of
the fore-ribs on the left side, it had lodged beneath the skin of the
shoulder. This was irresistible work, and the elephant had evidently
dropped in a few minutes after having received the shell.
A most interesting fact had occurred. I noticed an old wound unhealed
and full of matter in the front of the left shoulder. The bowels were
shot through, and were green in various places. Florian suggested that
it must be an elephant that I had wounded at Wat el Negur; we tracked
the course of the bullet most carefully, until we at length discovered
my unmistakable bullet of quicksilver and lead, almost uninjured, in the
fleshy part of the thigh, imbedded in an unhealed wound. Thus, by a
curious chance, upon my first interview with African elephants by
daylight, I had killed the identical elephant that I had wounded at Wat
el Negur forty-three days before in the dhurra plantation, twenty-eight
miles distant!
CHAPTER VII.
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