The Grass Was High, But I Rode Through It To
Within About Forty Yards Before I Was Observed; They Immediately
Dashed
away, and I followed for about a mile at a trot, the ground being so
full of holes and
Covered with fallen trees concealed in the high grass,
that I did not like to close until I should arrive in a more favourable
spot. At length I shot at full gallop past an immense fellow, with tusks
about five feet projecting from his jaws, and reining up, I fired with a
Reilly No. 10 at the shoulder. He charged straight into me at the sound
of the shot. My horse, Filfil, was utterly unfit for a hunter, as he
went perfectly mad at the report of a gun fired from his back, and at
the moment of the discharge he reared perpendicularly; the weight, and
the recoil of the rifle, added to the sudden rearing of the horse,
unseated me, and I fell, rifle in hand, backwards over his hind-quarters
at the moment the elephant rushed in full charge upon the horse. Away
went "Filfil," leaving me upon the ground in a most inglorious position;
and, fortunately, the grass being high, the elephant lost sight of me
and followed the horse instead of giving me his attention.
My horse was lost; my man had never even accompanied me, having lagged
behind at the very commencement of the hunt. I had lost my rifle in the
high grass, as I had been forced to make a short run from the spot
before I knew that the elephant had followed the horse; thus I was
nearly an hour before I found it, and also my azimuth compass that had
fallen from my belt pouch.
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