The elephants, unaware of our presence, were swimming without any suspicion of danger. All at once the huge bull turned and swam towards us. There was no way to kill him but by a forehead shot, that is, shooting him between the eyes. The steel-pointed bullets of "Bulldog" could do the work well. A number of cow elephants turned also towards us. I pointed out to Rogala and Shinshooko two of them that could be shot near the temple or behind the ears, and made them a sign that I was going to take a shot at the bull.
[Illustration: "_Suddenly the bull made for the river_."]
We raised our guns. I looked at Rogala and Shinshooko. They were looking at me also. We took careful aim and I gave three clicks; the third one was the signal to fire. Bang, bang, bang, went our guns at the same time. I thought the guns of my men had burst, so loud was the detonation. I saw only a dense smoke, which hid them for a while from me.
Looking at the water, I saw the bull elephant raise and lower his trunk twice; then he swam towards our bank, which was so steep that he could not land. He was evidently badly wounded. Suddenly the water around him became a mass of foam. He was in his last struggle. The current took him down stream. The two cow elephants were badly wounded and seemed dazed, but they succeeded in reaching the shore.
In the meantime, at the noise of the guns, the herd took to the shore and fled through the forest, tearing down and trampling everything in the jungle that obstructed their flight.
We went for our canoe, and after descending the river we saw the big bull elephant stranded. What a huge beast he was! He had two enormous tusks, but, as was always the case, they were not of the same length and weight.
We left the bull, and went into the forest in search of the two cow elephants, for Rogala and Shinshooko were sure that they had wounded them and that they had probably died in the forest not far from the place where they were shot.
We had landed where we had seen them leave the river, and saw some blood on the ground. Following their tracks, we came to a dead cow elephant.
"Let us go after the other one," said the two men.
In the meantime they had reloaded their guns. We followed the track the other cow elephant had left behind. After a short time we came up with her, seated apparently on her knees. As soon as she saw us she got up to charge, but she had not gone five steps when she fell dead.