n all his terrible beauty, clinging to the elephant's
head by the claws of his fore paws, and struggling for a foothold on
its trunk with his mighty hind legs, in a wounded agony of despair and
vengeance. He would sell his life dear; he would have one or other of
us.

Lord Southminster raised his rifle again; but the Maharajah shouted
aloud in an angry voice: 'Don't fire! Don't fire! You will kill the
lady! You can't aim at him like that. The beast is rocking so that no
one can say where a shot will take effect. Down with your gun, sir,
instantly!'

[Illustration: IT WENT OFF UNEXPECTEDLY.]

My mahout, unable to keep his seat with the rocking, now dropped off his
cushion among the scrub below. He could speak a few words of English.
'Shoot, Mem Sahib, shoot!' he cried, flinging his hands up. But I was
tossed to and fro, from side to side, with my rifle under my arm. It was
impossible to aim. Yet in sheer terror I tried to draw the trigger. I
failed; but somehow I caught my rifle against the side of my cage.
Something snapped in it somewhere. It went off unexpectedly, without my
aiming or firing. I shut my eyes. When I opened them again, I saw a
swimming picture of the great sullen beast, loosing his hold on the
elephant. I saw his brindled face; I saw his white tusks. But his
gleaming pupils burned bright no longer. His jaw was full towards me: I
had shot him between the eyes. He fell, slowly, with blood streaming
from his nostrils, and his tongue lolling out. His muscles relaxed; his
huge limbs grew limp. In a minute, he lay stretched at full length on
the ground, with his head on one side, a grand, terrible picture.

My mahout flung up his hands in wonder and amazement. 'My father!' he
cried aloud. 'Truly, the Mem Sahib is a great shikari!'

The Maharajah stretched across to me. 'That was a wonderful shot!' he
exclaimed. 'I could never have believed a woman could show such nerve
and coolness.'

Nerve and coolness, indeed! I was trembling all over like an Italian
greyhound, every limb a jelly; and I had not even fired: the rifle went
off of itself without me. I am innocent of having ever endangered the
life of a haycock. But once more I dissembled. 'Yes, it _was_ a
difficult shot,' I said jauntily, as if I rather liked tiger-hunting.
'I didn't think I'd hit him.' Still the effect of my speech was somewhat
marred, I fear, by the tears that in spite of me rolled down my cheek
silently.

''Pon honah, I nevah saw a