"Rogues" 21 



haunts for many years. He becomes what is termed a 

 " rogue." He then waylays the natives, and in fact 

 becomes a scourge to the neighborhood, attacking the 

 inoffensive without the slightest provocation, carrying 

 destruction into the natives' paddy-fields, and perfectly 

 regardless of night fires or the usual precautions for 

 scaring wild beasts. 



The daring pluck of these " rogues " is only equaled 

 by the-ir extreme cunning. Endowed with that won- 

 derful power of scent peculiar to elephants, he travels 

 in the day-time do-wn the wind ; thus nothing can fol- 

 low upon his track without his knowledge. He winds 

 his enemy as the cautious hunter advances noiselessly 

 upon his track, and he stands with ears thrown for- 

 ward, tail erect, trunk thrown high in the air, with its 

 distended tip pointed to the spot from which he winds 

 the silent but approaching danger. Perfectly motionless 

 does he stand, like a statue in ebony, the very essence 

 of attention, every nerve of scent and hearing stretched 

 to its cracking point ; not a muscle moves, not a sound 

 of a rustling branch against his rough sides ; he is a 

 mute figure of wild and fierce eagerness. Meanwhile, 

 the wary tracker stoops to the ground, and with a prac- 

 ticed eye pierces the tangled brushwood in search of his 

 colossal feet. Still farther and farther he silently creeps 

 forward, when suddenly a crash bursts through the jun- 

 gle ; the moment has arrived for the ambushed charge, 

 and the elephant is upon him. 



What increases the danger is the uncertainty prevail- 

 ing in all the movements of a " rogue." You may per- 

 haps see him upon a plain or in a forest. As you 

 advance he retreats, or he may at once charge. Should 

 he retreat, you follow him ; but you may shortly dis- 



