The party had seen no elephants and were unaware that any were in their vicinity. Selous, who, with Kermit, had followed Roosevelt, saw the Colonel lift his gun hurriedly to his shoulder. He glanced in the same direction and caught sight of a herd of elephants led by an enormous tusker. This animal was less than two hundred feet away.
Selous shouted: “For the life of you, don’t shoot! A bullet will bring a charge of the herd and we may be trampled to death. Follow me!”
Roosevelt reluctantly lowered his rifle. Selous led the Colonel and Kermit to a safe spot and bade them climb a tree. From this position Selous showed his companions how to aim. Roosevelt raised his Winchester and sent a half-dozen bullets into the leader of the herd.
With a scream of pain, the elephant charged, but when close to the tree he fell with a tremendous crash. He had received his death wound. The rest of the herd fled, pursued by Kermit’s bullets.
Many a big game hunter has been killed by the swirling trunk or the trampling feet of a wounded elephant. If the Colonel had fired from the position from which Selous rescued him he would undoubtedly have been crushed to death when the brute charged.
Roosevelt’s exploits in Africa aroused the intense admiration of the natives, and as a compliment to his shooting ability they named him “Bwana Tumbo,” the Great Hunter.
Carl Akeley, head of the elephant hunting expedition in Africa for the American Museum of Natural History, met the Roosevelt expedition in Africa and spent several days hunting with the Colonel.
Mr. Akeley found that while the Colonel took a huge interest in the hunt for big game, he was yet so much of a naturalist that he showed a keen interest in even the most insignificant of wild creatures. A small rodent had been discovered on the North American Continent. The discovery was of small moment. Few men remembered it, yet the Colonel was found to know all about it. Akeley says:
“I found Colonel Roosevelt one of the most refreshing and delightful companions I ever had the pleasure of knowing. He was as ideal and keen a sportsman as ever lived. The least of his pleasure was in the killing of animals. He found infinite joy in studying wild animal life in its native haunts. His greatest pleasures lay in seeing and learning, thereby proving himself an ideal naturalist.”