ntle hint to act less
officiously, and, accordingly, having loaded, I approached within thirty
yards, and give it her sharp, right and left, behind the shoulder, upon
which she at once made off with drooping trunk, evidently with a mortal
wound. I never recur to this day's elephant shooting without regretting
my folly in contenting myself with securing only one elephant. The
first was now dying, and could not leave the ground, and the second was
also mortally wounded, and I had only to follow and finish her; but I
foolishly allowed her to escape, while I amused myself with the first,
which kept walking backward, and standing by every tree she passed. Two
more shots finished her: on receiving them, she tossed her trunk up and
down two or three times, and, falling on her broadside against a thorny
tree, which yielded like grass before her enormous weight, she uttered a
deep, hoarse cry, and expired. This was a very handsome old cow
elephant, and was decidedly the best in the troop. She was in excellent
condition, and carried a pair of long and perfect tusks. I was in high
spirits at my success, and felt so perfectly satisfied with having
killed one, that, although it was still early in the day, and my horses
were fresh, I allowed the troop of five bulls to remain unmolested,
foolishly trusting to fall in with them next day.

THE SHARK SENTINEL.

With my companion, one beautiful afternoon, rambling over the rocky
cliffs at the back of the island, (New Providence, W.I.,) we came to a
spot where the stillness and the clear transparency of the water invited
us to bathe. It was not deep. As we stood above, on the promontory, we
could see the bottom in every part. Under the headland, which formed the
opposite side of the cove, there was a cavern, to which, as the shore
was steep, there was no access but by swimming, and we resolved to
explore it. We soon reached its mouth, and were enchanted with its
romantic grandeur and wild beauty. It extended, we found, a long way
back, and had several natural baths, into all of which we successively
threw ourselves; each, as they receded further from the mouth of the
cavern, being colder than the last. The tide, it was evident, had free
ingress, and renewed the water every twelve hours. Here we thoughtlessly
amused ourselves for some time.

At length the declining sun warned us that it was time to take our
departure from the cave, when, at no great distance from us, we saw the
back