B.was standing behind me on the opposite side of the small open, or about seven yards from the jungle.
I suddenly heard a deep guttural sound in the thick rattan within four feet of me; in the same instant the whole tangled fabric bent forward, and bursting asunder, showed the furious head of an elephant with uplifted trunk in full charge upon me! I had barely time to cock my rifle, and the barrel almost touched him as I fired.

I knew it was in vain, as his trunk was raised.

B.fired his right-hand barrel at the same moment without effect from the same cause.
I jumped on one side and attempted to spring through the deep mud: it was of no use, the long grass entangled my feet, and in another instant I lay sprawling in the enraged elephant's path within a foot of him.

In that moment of suspense I expected to hear the crack of my own bones as his massive foot would be upon me.

It was an atom of time.