The shot so
stunned him that, instead of going on straight, he kept turning round
and round as though running after his tail; this threw the herd into
confusion, and some ran to the right and others to the left, across some
steep hollows. Running up to my wounded elephant, I extinguished him
with my remaining barrel; and getting a spare rifle from Wallace, who
was the only gun-bearer who had kept up, I floored another elephant, who
was ascending the opposite side of a hollow about forty yards off: this
fellow took two shots, and accordingly I was left unloaded. V. had made
good play with the rifles as the herd was crossing the hollow, and he
had killed three, making six bagged in all. The remaining two elephants
reached a thick jungle and escaped.
We returned to the tent, and after a bath we sat down with a glorious
appetite to breakfast, having bagged six elephants before seven o'clock
A.M.
In the afternoon we went to the cave and sent out trackers. We were very
hard up for provisions in this place: there were no deer in the
neighbourhood, and we lived upon squirrels and parrots, both of which
are excellent eating, but not very substantial fare.
The whole of this part of the country was one dark mass of high lemon
grass, which, not having been burnt, was a tangled mixture of yellow
stalks and sharp blades, that completely destroyed the pleasure of
shooting.
