WOUND A BULL. 131 



the elephant close behind the trackers, as I could not see to shoot on foot 

 in the grass. We expected a long hunt before we came up with our game 

 this time, if we did so at all that day. I was looking round, admiring the 

 jungle, when crash, crash, went the jungle close ahead, as the bull started 

 suddenly and lumbered off ! He had got our wind ! Another few yards 

 and I should have viewed him ! I told the mahout to push on the elephant 

 with all speed, the trackers leading at a run through the still bending 

 bushes, when the wide-spreading, massive horns, and huge head of the bull 

 appeared suddenly before me, staring at the elephant, and only thirty-five 

 yards away ! He looked as cool as if he had just risen from his lair. I 

 clutched the driver wildly by bis shaven crown to stop the elephant, and 

 got a fair shot at the bull's chest with my 8 -bore and twelve drams, 

 but I could not see to put in the left for the smoke, and away the bidl 

 went. Well, he can't go far with that ! and I heartily congratulated myself 

 on getting so fine a specimen of a buffalo. I now dismounted, and we 

 followed him. There was not much blood, but that often happens with 

 thick-skinned animals. The internal bleeding would be the more severe, and 

 I pressed on, with the trackers behind me now, as I thought our game might 

 prove vicious if still on his legs when we came up with him. The blood, 

 however, ceased shortly, and the trackers had to lead again. This was 

 strange. The brute had also jumped a deep and somewhat wide grip — a 

 last effort, no doubt. But no; he has gone on at a gallop on the other side! 

 The end of the hunt was that we never saw the bull again, though we 

 tracked him till dark. Had he been fairly hit with such a weapon as 

 the 8 -bore he could not have gone far. The ball must have made a 

 flesh-wound of little importance, hitting him to one side in the shoulder 

 instead of in the chest ; and I daresay the old fellow is alive and well to this 

 day, as I hope, seeing that I cannot have him ! 



We had a long tramp back to the boat through the dark and thick 

 jungle. Apart from the loss of the bull, I felt it unfortunate that I should 

 have made such a cWbut amongst my new people. I feared the trackers' 

 confidence in my shooting would be shaken; whilst the fifty hungry mahouts 

 and grass-cutters in camp would hear of our ill -success with real grief, 

 as they had been calculating upon steaks for supper. My gun -bearer, 

 Jaffer, who had accompanied me from Mysore, had, I knew, recounted with 

 his own additions his master's deeds in the shooting line there, and I 

 felt that greater things had been expected of me. Well, it often happens 

 that the sportsman gets animals to which he is but ill entitled, as far as hav- 

 ing worked for them is concerned, and he must therefore set off these pieces 

 of good luck against his unfortunate days. 



