In this paragraph of "Shooting an Elephant," Orwell describes the elephant's demise after he has shot it with the rifle. That Orwell characterises this time period as a "long time" suggests, above all, that he feels instantly regretful of his decision to shoot the animal. It is important to remember that Orwell never wanted to kill the elephant but felt compelled to do so because of the huge crowd behind him:
To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing - no, that was impossible.
In addition, Orwell's response to the time period is symbolic of his natural sense of justice and fairness. It is not that he is "squeamish" about seeing an animal die but, in fact, that killing the elephant seems like "murder" to him. This is because he knows that the elephant is simply having its "must" and will calm down soon enough. Words like "sagged" and "flabbily" also support this view because they characterise the elephant like an overweight and elderly person, not like a predator who must be shot.
But Orwell knew that the crowd would never accept this explanation and that he had to act as they expected. But, in doing so, Orwell became the imperialist that he truly hated.
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