At once the furious beast charged straight at the enemy. But now came
the very gallant but foolish part of the hunt. Instead of leading the
elephant by the flight of one man and horse, according to their usual
method, all the aggageers at the same moment sprang from their saddles,
and upon foot in the heavy sand they attacked the elephant with their
swords.

In the way of sport I never saw anything so magnificent or so absurdly
dangerous. No gladiatorial exhibition in the Roman arena could have
surpassed this fight. The elephant was mad with rage, and nevertheless
he seemed to know that the object of the hunters was to get behind him.
This he avoided with great dexterity, turning as it were upon a pivot
with extreme quickness, and charging headlong, first at one and then at
another of his assailants, while he blew clouds of sand in the air with
his trunk, and screamed with fury. Nimble as monkeys, nevertheless the
aggageers could not get behind him. In the folly of excitement they had
forsaken their horses, which had escaped from the spot. The depth of the
loose sand was in favor of the elephant, and was so much against the men
that they avoided his charges with extreme difficulty. It was only by
the determined pluck of all three that they alternately saved each
other, as two invariably dashed in at the flanks when the elephant
charged the third, upon which the wary animal immediately relinquished
the chase and turned round upon his pursuers. During this time I had
been laboring through the heavy sand, and shortly after I arrived at the
fight the elephant charged directly through the aggageers, receiving a
shoulder-shot from one of my Reilly No. 10 rifles, and at the same time
a slash from the sword of Abou Do, who with great dexterity and speed
had closed in behind him, just in time to reach the leg. Unfortunately,
he could not deliver the cut in the right place, as the elephant, with