274 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. 



pace, though stumbling nearly on his knees, his head 

 and tail both hanging down, his trunk hanging listlessly 

 upon the ground, and his ears, instead of being cocked, 

 were pressed tightly back against his neck. He did not 

 look much like a rogue at that moment, with upward 

 of half a pound of lead in his carcase. Still we could 

 not get another shot at him before he reached a jungle 

 aboqt seventy paces distant ; and here we stopped to 

 load before we followed him, thinking that he was in 

 dense che'nar. This was a great mistake, for, on fol- 

 lowing him a minute later, we found the jungle was 

 perfectly open, being merely a fringe of forest on the 

 banks of a broad river ; in crossing this we must have 

 killed him had we not stopped to load. 



On the sandy bed of this river we found the fresh 

 tracks of several elephants, who had evidently only just 

 retreated, being disturbed by the shots fired ; these were 

 a portion of the herd, and the old rogue having got his 

 quietus, we pushed on as fast as we could upon the 

 tracks through fine open forest. 



For about an hour we pressed on through forests, 

 plains, rivers and thick jungles alternately, till at length, 

 upon arriving on some rising ground, we heard the 

 trumpet of an elephant. 



It was fine country, but overgrown with lemon grass 

 ten feet high. Clumps of trees were scattered here 

 and there among numerous small dells. Exactly oppo- 

 site lay several large masses of rock, shaded by a few 

 trees, and on our left lay a small hollow of high lemon 

 grass, bordered by jungle. 



In this hollow we counted seven elephants : their 

 heads and backs were just discernible above the grass, 

 as we looked over them from some rising ground at 



