e in
mind of an Italian greyhound, only it had a longer neck and was somewhat
larger. I was quite sorry when Chickango, firing, knocked it over. It
was, however, a welcome addition to our game bag. He called it Ncheri.
It was the most elegant little creature I met with in Africa among the
numberless beautiful animals which abound in the regions we passed
through.

We were at the time proceeding along the foot of a hill. Scarcely had
he fired, when a loud trumpeting was heard, and directly afterwards we
saw a negro rushing through the underwood, followed by a huge elephant.
"Up! up the hill!" cried Chickango, suiting the action to the word. I
followed, for as we were wishing to kill birds alone, my gun was loaded
only with small shot. The elephant made towards us. The negro stranger
came bounding on. Chickango and I had got some way up the hill, but
Stanley, who stood his ground, was engaged in ramming home a bullet.
The elephant had all the time been keeping one eye on the black and one
on us. When I thought he was on the point of seizing my cousin, he
suddenly turned on his first assailant. The black darted to a tree,
when the elephant, seizing him with his trunk, threw him with tremendous
force to the ground. This enabled Stanley to spring up after us; and
the hill being very steep, with rolling stones, we hoped that we were
there safe from the attacks of the now infuriated beast. It cast a
glance at the unfortunate black, who was endeavouring to crawl away
along the ground. Again the elephant was about to seize him with his
trunk, and in an instant would have crushed him to death, when Stanley,
raising his gun, fired, and struck the creature in the most vulnerable
part--behind the ear. The ball must have entered the brain, for,
sinking down instantly, it rolled over, and, we thought, must have
killed the black by its weight. We hurried down, hoping that there
might yet be time to save the poor fellow's life, regardless at the
moment of our victory, which, with hunters in general, would have been a
cause of triumph. As we got round, we found that the black had narrowly
escaped being crushed to death; indeed, as it was, his legs appeared to
lie almost under the monster's back. We drew him out, however, and to
our satisfaction found that he was still breathing. Chickango said that
he belonged to the Bakeles, and was probably a chief hunter among them.
As, however, we were much nearer our own abode than