the story nobody would believe it, for when a strange tale is told by
a hunter, people are apt to think it is necessarily a lie, instead of
being only probably so.[*]

[*] For the satisfaction of any who may be so disbelieving
as to take this view of Mr. Quatermain's story, the Editor
may state that a gentleman with whom he is acquainted, and
whose veracity he believes to be beyond doubt, not long ago
described to him how he chanced to kill _four_ African
elephants with four consecutive bullets. Two of these
elephants were charging him simultaneously, and out of the
four three were killed with the head shot, a very uncommon
thing in the case of the African elephant.--Editor.

"Well, we passed on till, having crossed the first glade where I had
seen the lions, we reached the neck of bush that separated it from the
second glade, where the dead elephants were. And here I began to take
elaborate precautions, amongst others ordering Gobo to keep some yards
ahead and look out sharp, as I thought that the elephants might be
about. He obeyed my instructions with a superior smile, and pushed
ahead. Presently I saw him pull up as though he had been shot, and begin
to snap his fingers faintly.

"'What is it?' I whispered.

"'The elephant, the great elephant with one tusk kneeling down.'

"I crept up beside him. There knelt the bull as I had left him last
night, and there too lay the other bulls.