We had no difficulty in finding the broad elephant trail，which Ventv?gel，after examination，pronounced to have been made by between twenty and thirty elephants，most of them full-grown bulb.But the herd had moved on some way during the night，and it was nine o'clock，and already very hot，before，from the broken trees，bruised leaves and bark，and smoking dung，we knew we could not be far off them.
Presently we caught sight of the herd，numbering，as Ventv?gel had said，between twenty and thirty，standing in a hollow，having finished their morning meal，and flapping their great ears.It was a splendid sight.
They were about two hundred yards from us.Taking a handful of dry grass I threw it into the air to see how the wind was；for if once they winded us I knew they would be off before we could get a shot.Finding that，if anything，it blew from the elephants to us，we crept stealthily on，and，thanks to the cover，managed to get within forty yards or so of the great brutes.Just in front of us and broadside on stood three splendid bulls，one of them with enormous tusks.I whispered to the others that I would take the middle one；Sir Henry covered the one to the left，and Good the bull with the big tusks.
"Now，"I whispered.
Boom！boom！boom！went the three heavy rifles，and down went Sir Henry's elephant，dead as a hammer，shot right through the heart.Mine fell on to its knees，and I thought he was going to die，but in another moment he was up and off，tearing along straight past me.As he went Igave him the second barrel in his ribs，and this brought down in good earnest.
Hastily slipping in two fresh cartridges，I ran up close to him，and a ball through the brain put an end to the poor brute's struggles.Then Iturned to see how Good had fared with the big bull，which I had heard screaming with rage and pain as I gave mine its quietus.On reaching the captain I found him in a great state of excitement.It appeared that on receiving the bullet the bull had turned and come straight for his assailant，who had barely time to get out of his way，and then charged blindly on past him，in the direction of our encampment.Meanwhile the herd had crashed off in wild alarm in the other direction.
