192 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. 



tain. To cross the deep valley that separated us and to 

 ascend the mountain would have taken several hours, 

 and at this time of the day it was, therefore, imprac- 

 ticable ; we were thus compelled to turn our backs 

 upon the game and return toward our rocky home, 

 Tired more from our want of success than from the 

 day's work, we strolled leisurely along, and we were 

 talking of the best plan to be adopted for the next day's 

 work, when I suddenly observed a herd of eight ele- 

 phants going up the side of a small hill at their best 

 pace within two hundred yards of us. They had just 

 quitted a small jungle at the bottom of a ravine, and 

 they had been alarmed by our approach. 



Off we started in pursuit, down the rugged side of 

 the hill we were descending, and up the opposite hill, 

 upon the elephants' tracks, as hard as we could run. 

 Just as we reached the top of the hill the elephants 

 were entering a small jungle on the other side. My 

 brother got a shot and killed the last of the herd ; in 

 another moment they had disappeared. It had been a 

 sharp burst up the steep hill, and we stopped to breathe, 

 but we were almost immediately in pursuit again, as we 

 saw the herd emerge from the jungle at the base of the 

 hill and plough their way through a vast field of high 

 lemon grass. 



Upon arriving on their tracks they had fairly dis- 

 tanced us. The grass, which was as thick as a hedge, 

 was trodden into lanes by the elephants, and upon 

 either side it stood like a wall ten or twelve feet high. 

 Upon these tracks we ran along for some time until it 

 became dusk. We halted, and were consulting as t j 

 the prudence of continuing the chase at this late hour, 

 when we suddenly heard the cracking of the branches 



