I pointed it myself;
bang! it went, and what was the consequence? Why, this:--
X
____________________ |__G
.................... |
E |
|
|
| F
F is the fort, as before. G is the gun, as before. E, the elephants, as
we have previously seen them. What then is X? X IS THE LINE TAKEN BY THE
BALL FIRED FROM G, which took off ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR elephants'
trunks, and only spent itself in the tusk of a very old animal, that
stood the hundred and thirty-fifth.
I say that such a shot was never fired before or since; that a gun
was never pointed in such a way. Suppose I had been a common man, and
contented myself with firing bang at the head of the first animal? An
ass would have done it, prided himself had he hit his mark, and what
would have been the consequence? Why, that the ball might have killed
two elephants and wounded a third; but here, probably, it would have
stopped, and done no further mischief. The TRUNK was the place at which
to aim; there are no bones there; and away, consequently, went the
bullet, shearing, as I have said, through one hundred and thirty-five
probosces.
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