Rothfels relates that 'When Roosevelt went to Africa, he was after... elephants. Facing his foe, apparently alone much of the time, and preparing to shoot at the last possible moment, Roosevelt, too, describes a cunning and deadly beast. After a long stalk on a herd of elephants, "keeping ceaselessly ready for whatever might befall," for example, Roosevelt and his hunting companion Richard Cuninghame spotted "a big bull with good ivory." Aiming at a spot near the eye that he thought would lead to the brain, Roosevelt writes, " I struck exactly where I aimed, but the head of an elephant is enourmous and the brain small, and the bullet missed it. However, the shock momentarily stunned the beast. He stumbled forward, half falling, and as he recovered I fired with the second barrel, again aiming for the brain. This time the bullet sped true, and as I lowered the rifle from my shoulder, I saw the great lord of the forest come crashing to the ground." The story doesn't end here, though, Roosevelt continues:

"At that very instant, before there was a moment's time in which to reload, the thick bushes parted immediately on my left front, and through them surged the vast bulk of a charging bull elephant, the matted mass of tough creepers snapping like packthread before his rush. He was so close that he could have touched me with his trunk. I leaped to one side and dodged behind a tree trunk, opening the rifle, throwing out the empty shells, and slipping in two cartridges. Meanwhile Cuninghame fired right and left, at the same time throwing himself into the bushed on the other side. Both his bullets went home, and immediately disappeared in the thick cover. We ran forward, but the forest had closed over his wake. We heard him trumpet shrilly, and then all sounds ceased."' (62-63)