278 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon* 



this pace without a sh6t being fired. At length one 

 elephant turned and faced about exactly in front of me. 

 My three double-barreled rifles were now all empty, 

 and I was carrying the little No. 16 gun. I killed him 

 with the right-hand barrel, but I lost ground by stop- 

 ping to fire. 



A jungle lay about two hundred yards in front of the 

 herd, and they increased their speed to arrive at this 

 place of refuge. 



Giving the little gun, with one barrel still loaded, to 

 Wallace, I took the four-ounce rifle in exchange, as I 

 knew I could not close up with the herd before they 

 reached the jungle, and a long shot would be my last 

 chance. With this heavy gun (21 Ibs.) I had hard 

 work to keep my distance, which was about forty yards 

 from the herd. 



Palliser and Wortley were before me, and within 

 twenty yards of the elephants. They neared the jungle ; 

 I therefore ran off to my left as fast as I could go, so as 

 to ensure a side shot. I was just in time to command 

 their flank as the herd reached the jungle. A narrow 

 river, with steep banks of twenty feet in height, bor- 

 dered the edge, and I got a shot at a large elephant just 

 as he arrived upon the brink of the chasm. He was 

 fifty paces off, but I hit him in the temple with the four- 

 ounce, and rolled him down the precipitous bank into 

 the river. Here he lay groaning, so, taking the little 

 gun, with one barrel still loaded, I extinguished him 

 from the top of the bank. 



Oh, for half a dozen loaded guns ! I was now un- 

 loaded, and the fun began in real earnest. The herd 

 pushed for a particular passage down the steep bank. 

 It was like a rush at the door of the opera ; they jostled 



