ii8 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



the bush, as I should have expected, kept his course, 

 making straight for the firther side, and going at 

 that long, swinging walk, to keep up with which a 

 man on foot must run at a fair pace. I had now 

 been a long time bare-headed, exposed to the heat of 

 the fierce tropical sun, and the kick I had received 

 from the gun had so much shaken me, that I felt 

 dead beat, and could scarcely drag one leg after the 

 other. I saw that I should never be able to run up 

 to within shot of the elephant, which was now about 

 150 yards ahead ; so, taking the gun from Nuta, I 

 told him to try and run right round him, and by 

 shouting turn him back towards me. Relieved of 

 the weight of the gun, and being a splendid runner, 

 he soon accomplished this, and standing behind the 

 stem of a camel-thorn tree a long way in advance, 

 halloed loudly. Accordingly, I had the satisfaction 

 of seeing the elephant stop, raise his ears, look steadily 

 in the direction of the noise, anci then wheel round, 

 and come walking straight back towards the jungle 

 he had just left, taking a line which would bring him 

 past me, at a distance of about fifty or sixty yards. 

 I stood perfectly still, with Balamoya kneeling close 

 behind me ; for, though elephants can see very well 

 in the open, I have always found that if they do not 

 get your wind, and you remain motionless, they seem 

 to take you for a tree or a stump. To this I now 

 trusted, and as the elephant came on I had full leisure 

 to examine him. The ground between us was as 

 bare as a board, except that it was covered with 

 coarse grass about a foot high, and he looked truly 

 a gigantic and formidable beast ; his tusks were 

 small for his size, one of them being broken at the 

 point, and I do not think they could have weighed 

 much over 30 lbs. apiece. He came steadily on, 



