The shock
made it reel backward for an instant, and fortunately turned it and the
herd likewise.
My second rifle was beautifully handed, and I made a
quick right and left at the temples of two fine elephants, dropping them
both stone dead. At this moment the "Baby" was pushed into my hand by
Hadji Ali just in time to take the shoulder of the last of the herd, who
had already charged headlong after his comrades and was disappearing in
the jungle. Bang! went the "Baby;" round I spun like a weathercock, with
the blood pouring from my nose, as the recoil had driven the sharp top
of the hammer deep into the bridge. My "Baby" not only screamed, but
kicked viciously. However, I knew that the elephant must be bagged, as
the half-pound shell had been aimed directly behind the shoulder.
In a few minutes the aggageers arrived. They were bleeding from
countless scratches, as, although naked with the exception of short
drawers, they had forced their way on horseback through the thorny path
cleft by the herd in rushing through the jungle. Abou Do had blood upon
his sword. They had found the elephants commencing a retreat to the
interior of the country, and they had arrived just in time to turn them.
Following them at full speed, Abou Do had succeeded in overtaking and
slashing the sinew of an elephant just as it was entering the jungle.
Thus the aggageers had secured one, in addition to Florian's elephant
that had been slashed by Jali. We now hunted for the "Baby's" elephant,
which was almost immediately discovered lying dead within a hundred and
fifty yards of the place where it had received the shot. The shell had
entered close to the shoulder, and it was extraordinary that an animal
should have been able to travel so great a distance with a wound through
the lungs by a shell that had exploded within the body.
We had done pretty well. I had been fortunate in bagging four from this
herd, in addition to the single bull in the morning; total, five.
Florian had killed one and the aggageers one; total, seven elephants.
One had escaped that I had wounded in the shoulder, and two that had
been wounded by Florian. The aggageers were delighted, and they
determined to search for the wounded elephants on the following day, as
the evening was advancing, and we were about five miles from camp.
At daybreak the next morning the aggageers in high glee mounted their
horses, and with a long retinue of camels and men, provided with axes
and knives, together with large gum sacks to contain the flesh, they
quitted the camp to cut up the numerous elephants. As I had no taste for
this disgusting work, I took two of my Tokrooris, Hadji Ali and Hassan,
and, accompanied by old Abou Do, the father of the sheik, with his
harpoon, we started along the margin of the river in quest of
hippopotami.
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