206 MANCEUVRE TO GET A SHOT. 



seen or winded by another. However, at last we got to the banks of the 

 ravine to which the elephant had by this time made his way. We were 

 here nearly discovered by a small female which came from behind ns, and 

 was apparently intending to cross the nnllah near us ; she luckily, however, 

 turned off, or we should have been seen or winded, and the whole herd 

 would have been alarmed. Following the main body, in which was the 

 tusker, along the bank of the nullah, we reached a large tree with an open 

 space in front. The nullah bounded the space on the opposite side, and on 

 the right and left ; in fact, we and the elephants were on a tongue of land 

 surrounded by the nullah, excepting in the direction from which we had 

 come. About thirty elephants were collected here, and amongst them was 

 the tusker. There were four or five other smaller tuskers, but none worth 

 shooting. They sauntered about unsuspicious of danger, caressing each other 

 affectionately, and enjoying their fancied security. At last they made a 

 move to cross the nullah ahead, where a steep path about five yards wide 

 led down into it and up the other side. I saw that this was the place to 

 cut off the tusker, but the difficulty lay in preventing stray elephants taking 

 our wind and giving the alarm. As the herd jostled each other in the nar- 

 row passage I was delighted to see the tusker loiter behind, and he entered 

 the pass amongst the last. I now ran quickly across the open space, about 

 fifty yards in width, and entered the path at the heels of the rear-guard. 

 Nothing could be seen but seven huge sterns in a line as their owners 

 walked down the incline to cross the nullah. I was within ten feet of their 

 tails, but quite lost to all sense of danger in the excitement of the moment. 

 I had read and re-read Sir S. Baker's delightful tales of elephant-shooting in 

 Ceylon, till I fancied the sport was much easier, much less dangerous, than 

 I subsequently found it to be. 



I kept my eye on the tusker who was in the middle of the line, and was 

 wondering how I was to get a shot at his brain, when, as luck would have 

 it, some vegetable attraction overhead tempted him, and he raised his head 

 to reach it with his trunk. I had beforehand fixed the fatal spot in my 

 mind's eye, and catching sight of his temple I fired. For a moment I 

 could see nothing for the smoke, but heard a tremendous commotion amongst 

 the elephants that were in company with the tusker. Stepping a little aside, 

 I saw their huge heads all turning towards me, their ears outspread, and 

 their trunks curled up in terrified astonishment. Being a novice in the sport, 

 I felt for the moment that I was in real danger. Jaffer was at the top of 

 the pass instead of being at my heels, for which I afterwards gave him a 

 severe lecture. I stood my ground however, determined if any of them 

 charged to fire at the foremost and to run to Jaffer for the second rifle ; that 



