midnight
Even the best natives have little compassion for the sufferings of animals . Well , the rest was easy . The marsh that would not bear the elephants carried our weight well enough . Before midnight all were dead , for we shot them by moonlight . I would gladly have spared the young ones and some of the cows , but to do so would only have meant leaving them to perish of hunger ; it was kinder to kill them at once . The wounded bull I slew with my own hand , and I can not say that I felt much compunction in so doing . He knew me again , and made a desperate effort to get at me , but I am glad to say that the peat held him fast .