This was done just in time, as an elephant from the battled herd turned sharp round, and, with its immense ears cocked, charged down upon us with a scream of rage.

"One of us she must have if I miss!" This was the first downright charge of an African elephant that I had seen, and instinctively I followed my old Ceylon plan of waiting for a close shot.

She lowered her head when within about six yards, and I fired low for the centre of the forehead, exactly in the swelling above the root of the trunk.

She collapsed to the shot, and fell dead, with a heavy shock, upon the ground.

At the same moment the thorny barrier gave way before the pressure of the herd, and the elephants disappeared in the thick jungle, through which it was impossible to follow them.
I had suffered terribly from the hooked thorns, and the men had likewise.