234 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. 



few seconds the struggle was over. Bran's wound was 

 four inches wide and seven inches long. 



My brother had a pretty run with the doe with the 

 other half of the pack, and we returned home by eight 

 A. M., having killed two elk. 



Daybreak is the proper time to be upon the ground 

 for elk-hunting. At this hour they have only just re- 

 tired to the jungle after their night's wandering on the 

 patinas, and the hounds take up a fresh scent, and save 

 the huntsman the trouble of entering the jungle. At a 

 later hour the elk have retired so far into the jungle that 

 much time is lost in finding them, and they are not so 

 likely to break cover as when they are just on the edge 

 of the forest. I had overslept myself one morning when 

 I ought to have been particularly early, as we intended 

 to hunt at the Matturatta plains, a distance of six miles. 

 The scent was bad and the sun was excessively hot ; 

 the dogs were tired and languid. It was two o'clock 

 p. M. and we had not found, and we were returning 

 through the forest homeward, having made up our 

 minds for a blank day. 



Suddenly I thought I heard a deep voice at a great 

 distance ; it might have been fancy, but I listened again. 

 I counted the dogs, and old Smut was missing. There 

 was no mistaking his voice when at bay, and I now 

 heard him distinctly in the distance. Running toward 

 the sound through fine open forests, we soon arrived 

 on the Matturatta plains. The whole pack now heard 

 the old dog distinctly, and they rushed to the sound 

 across the patinas. There was Smut, sure enough, with 

 a fine buck at bay in the river, which he had found and 

 brought to bay single-handed. 



^he instant that the pack joined him the buck broke 



