46 - THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



or another experienced some kindness or received 

 some present from the generous and open-handed 

 sportsman who was gone. 



Chineah, who had always been a great favourite 

 of his, was quite overcome for the moment, and 

 when he had sufficiently mastered his emotion to 

 speak, exclaimed, " Nusseeh hy ! Mulcher log such 

 bola." ("It is fate! the Mulcher people spoke 

 truly ") ; referring to their prophetic omen on fall- 

 ing in with the loris, which, strangely enough, 

 happened at the very time of the accident. 



The coolies could give no further particulars, so 

 I continued my route homewards, where every- 

 thing seemed to remind me of him whose sun had 

 set whilst it was yet day. I sent Chineah to 

 fetch some of the people who were with him at 

 the time, and from them 1 learned that they had 

 fallen in with fresh spoor soon after descending 

 the ghaut, and early in the day came across a 

 solitary elephant, apparently without tusks, who 

 was standing fanning himself in a patch of open 

 tree jungle, knee-deep in undergrowth. Wedder- 

 burn, in the first instance, tried to approach him 



