# IV: The Last Round explained — Maiwa’s Revenge

> Chapter companion for Maiwa’s Revenge by H. Rider Haggard.

## What happens

Quatermain wakes sore from his night battle with three bull elephants, but eager to claim their tusks. Despite his men's reluctance and superstitious fears, he forces them to follow the spoor. After a long day's tracking, he finds the elephants at dusk. In a daring moonlight attack, he shoots one bull through the heart, then faces the charge of the remaining two, firing at the head of the nearest.

## Themes in this chapter

### Adventure and Survival

Quatermain's relentless pursuit of the elephants despite injury, exhaustion, and the threat of death exemplifies the adventurous and survivalist spirit.

### Greed and Materialism

Quatermain's coveting of the magnificent tusks drives him to risk his life and ignore his men's fears, highlighting the lure of material wealth.

## Character check-ins

### Old Quatermain

Narrator and hunter; wakes sore but determined, tracks and attacks the three elephants single-handedly.

### Gobo

Quatermain's reluctant retainer; complains about the hunt and fears ghosts, but is forced to continue.

### The Matuku

Gobo's companion; agrees with Gobo's complaints and fears the haunted country.

### Wambe

Mentioned as the chief of the Matuku whose country the men fear; Quatermain plans to pay him hongo.

## Key lines

> I collapsed for a minute or two. Gobo and another man, wrapped up like a couple of monks in their blankets, thinking that I was still asleep, were crouched over a little fire they had made, for the morning was damp and chilly, and holding sweet converse.

Quatermain lay exhausted for a short while, overhearing Gobo and another man talking by the fire, believing he was still asleep.

_Shows Quatermain's physical state after the elephant battle and his men's private complaints._

> It is something to wake up in the morning and remember that in the dead of the night, single-handed, one has given battle to and overthrown three of the largest elephants in Africa, slaying them with three bullets.

Quatermain feels a great sense of pride recalling that he single-handedly killed three huge elephants with three shots the previous night.

_Highlights Quatermain's triumph and the extraordinary nature of his feat._

> I was in for it now, for I could not escape either to the right or left, on account of the bush, and I did not dare turn my back. So I did the only thing that I could do—raised the rifle and fired at the black mass of his chest.

Trapped by dense bush and facing a charging elephant, Quatermain had no choice but to fire at the dark shape of the animal's chest.

_Illustrates the desperate, close-quarters danger of the hunt._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/maiwa_s_revenge_se/chapters/iv-the-last-round
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/maiwa_s_revenge_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/maiwa_s_revenge_se/chapters