chap. iv. CLOSE QUARTERS. 71 



phants no longer had the advantage of the wind, and 

 we pushed on as fast as we could go. 



It was about half an hour before dusk, and our 

 patience and hopes were alike exhausted, when we 

 suddenly once more heard the wh-r-r-r of the elephants 

 winding us within a hundred yards. It was our last 

 chance, and with redoubled speed we rushed after 

 them. 



Suddenly we broke from the high jungle in which 

 we had been for the last two hours, and found our- 

 selves in a chena jungle of two years' growth, about 

 five feet high, but so thick and thorny that it resembled 

 one vast blackthorn hedge, through which no man 

 could move except in the track of the retreating 

 elephants. 



To my delight, on entering this low jungle, I saw 

 the female at about forty yards' distance, making off 

 at a great pace. I had a light double-barrelled gun in 

 my hand, and, in the hopes of checking her pace, I 

 fired a flying shot at her ear. She had been hunted 

 so long that she was well inclined to fight, and she 

 immediately slackened her speed so much that in a 

 few instants I was at her tail, so close that I could 

 have slapped her. Still she ploughed her way through 

 the thick thorns, and not being able to pass her owing 

 to the barrier of jungle, I could only follow close at 

 her heels and take my chance of a shot. At length, 

 losing all patience, I fired my remaining barrel under 



