XV BISON, BEAR, AND ELEPHANT 173 



froze to stone until I feared I should have cramp. 

 So we went on until the herd dashed off with a 

 stamp and a rush. 



I thought the day was done. But Mada 

 stripped off his blanket and glided forward naked, 

 faster than ever. With my boots and the heavy 

 rifle I could not keep up. Mada seized the rifle 

 and on we went. We reached a tree trunk com- 

 manding some sixty yards of elephant track 

 with clearer undergrowth than usual on either 

 side, and saw several cows, a young bull, and two 

 young bison like English calves. Mada then 

 pointed me out a black mass, seemingly hornless, 

 and void of form. It took time for me to ask by 

 signal of outstretched arms whether this was a 

 good bull, for Mada and I had no common 

 tongue. " Yes, yes," nodded his eager assent. 

 I fired. The mass swayed and moved. I fired 

 again and then again. At last the herd realized 

 where its danger lay, and fled with the thunder of 

 many feet. The bull too disappeared. We ran 

 on and heard stumbling steps below us ; and then 

 we found him dead in a thicket, with a head of 

 36 inches — a fine bull, with jet black coat, in all 

 his prime. 



Poor Mada was killed by a bear in 1922. 



I then went after an elephant, having heard 

 from my friend Mr. van Ingen, the Mysore taxi- 

 dermist, of one that had been proclaimed a rogue 

 in that district. The Dewan and the officials of 

 Mysore were exceedingly kind to me in connection 

 with this animal as well as with the bison. 



The elephant lived in the Begur Range, some 

 fifty miles from Mysore. He had recently killed 



