Out of four herds and three rogues fired at we had bagged thirty-one
elephants in a few days' shooting. My mishap on the first day had much
destroyed the pleasure of the sport, as the exercise was too much for my
wounded leg, which did not recover from the feeling of numbness for some
months.

CHAPTER XI.

Excitement of Elephant-shooting--An Unexpected Visitor--A Long Run
with a Buck--Hard Work Rewarded--A Glorious Bay--End of a Hard Day's
Work--Bee-hunters--Disasters of Elk-hunting--Bran Wounded--'Old Smut's'
Buck--Boar at Hackgalla--Death of 'Old Smut'--Scenery from the Perewelle
Mountains--Diabolical Death of 'Merriman'--Scene of the Murder.

In describing so many incidents in elephant-shooting it is difficult to
convey a just idea of the true grandeur of the sport: it reads too easy.
A certain number are killed out of a herd after an animated chase, and
the description of the hunt details the amount of slaughter, but cannot
possibly explain the peculiar excitement which attends elephant-shooting
beyond all other sports. The size of the animal is so disproportionate
to that of the hunter that the effect of a large herd of these monsters
flying before a single man would be almost ridiculous could the chase be
witnessed by some casual observer who was proof against the excitement
of the sport. The effect of a really good elephant shot in the pursuit
of a herd over open country is very fine. With such weapons as the
double-barrelled No. 10 rifles a shot is seldom wasted; and during the
chase, an elephant drops from the herd at every puff of smoke. It is a
curious sight, and one of the grandest in the world, to see a fine rogue
elephant knocked over in full charge. His onset appears so irresistible,
and the majesty of his form so overwhelming, that I have frequently
almost mistrusted the power of man over such a beast; but one shot well
placed, with a heavy charge of powder behind the ball, reduces him in an
instant to a mere heap of flesh.

One of the most disgusting sights is a dead elephant four or five
days after the fatal shot. In a tropical climate, where decomposition
proceeds with such wonderful rapidity, the effect of the sun upon such a
mass can be readily understood. The gas generated in the inside distends
the carcass to an enormous size, until it at length bursts and becomes
in a few hours afterwards one living heap of maggots. Three weeks after
an elephant is killed, nothing remains but his bones an