It was fairly steep, the ground being covered with loose stones, some of which, displaced by the mule’s hoofs, rolled and clattered downhill after him, and so frightened the animal that she incontinently bolted. El Hakim’s whole energies were now concentrated on keeping his seat, his rifle, and his presence of mind. Just as he felt that he was gradually succeeding in getting his agitated steed under control, she shied at a clump of cactus, and shot him clean out of the saddle, and over the cactus, into the clinging embrace of a well-developed wait-a-bit thorn which was growing on the other side. When the men had finally cut him out, he had quite given up the idea of shooting elephants that day, turning his attention instead to his numerous abrasions. Besides, the elephants were by that time miles away. After the evening meal, when we generally sat in front of the camp-fire smoking, George and I used, figuratively speaking, to sit at the feet of El Hakim and listen for hours to his yarns of elephant-hunting. It was very seldom we could get him to speak about his experiences, but when in the mood to talk, his tales were well worth listening to. We had some hazy idea that elephants were shot at something like a hundred yards’ range with a powerful large-bore rifle, which mortally wounded them at the first discharge. Once I asked El Hakim, off-hand, at what range he generally killed his elephants. “Oh,” he replied, “anything from five to twenty yards!” and went on to explain that it was much safer to shoot big game at short range. “Always stalk your beast carefully,” said he, “and get close enough to be certain of your shot; then hit him hard in the right place, and there you are!” It certainly sounded very simple, and I must say that El Hakim puts his own precepts into practice with conspicuous success; but a beginner does not find it so very easy. The temptation to fire at say eighty or a hundred yards, is well-nigh irresistible. It seems so much safer, though in reality it is much more dangerous—a fact which is rather difficult of assimilation by the novice. “Besides,” El Hakim would remark in conclusion, with the air of one propounding an unanswerable argument, “it is more sportsmanlike.” Another advantage of the short-range shot is this: Suppose a herd of elephants is located. If the conditions of wind, etc., are favourable, one can, with ordinary care, get right up to them, near enough to pick out the finest pair of tusks, and drop their owner with a bullet through the brain. If a ·303 is used there is no smoke, while it makes a comparatively small report, which is most likely attributed by the rest of the herd to the effect, and not the cause, of their comrade’s fall. A second and even a third elephant can often be obtained under these circumstances, before the herd realizes what is happening and stampedes.