Главная » Gun Digest 2011 читать онлайн | страница 29

Читать книгу Gun Digest 2011 онлайн

29 страница из 495

Of course, the Holland was also used on elephant, occasionally with some assistance:

…looking over the heads of my companions, I at once made out the elephant…. The leader was the biggest, and at it I fired when it was sixty yards away, and nearly broadside on, but heading slightly toward me. The recoil of the heavy rifle made me rock, as I stood unsteadily on my perch, and I failed to hit the brain. But the bullet, only missing the brain by an inch or two, brought the elephant to its knees; as it rose I floored it with the second barrel…. Reloading, I fired twice at the next animal. It stumbled and nearly fell, but at the same moment the first one rose again, and I fired both barrels into its head, bringing it once more to the ground. Once again it rose – an elephant’s brain is not an easy mark to hit under such conditions – but as it moved slowly off I snatched the little Springfield Rifle and this time shot true, sending the bullet into the brain.

During the expedition, TR personally killed 13 rhinos, his son Kermit taking another seven. Eleven elephant – eight of them by TR’s hand – fell to his double rifle. Many more animals were killed with this and the other guns in his battery, either for the Museums or as food for the hunting party. The Holland did yeoman service in the taking of thousands of animals over the year-long trip.

Правообладателям