90 THE RIFLE AND HOUND IN CEYLON, chap. v. 



of an elephant. Shot after shot then followed with a 

 chorus of shouts ; they were actually firing all our 

 spare guns ! 



In a few moments we were up with them. In a 

 beautifully open piece of forest, upon good hard ground, 

 these fellows were having a regular battle with the 

 rogue. He was charging them with the greatest fury, 

 but he no sooner selected one man for his object than 

 these active fellows diverted his rage by firing into his 

 hind-quarters and yelling at him. At this he would 

 immediately turn and charge another man, when he 

 would again be assailed as before. When we arrived 

 he immediately selected B., and came straight at him, 

 but offered a beautiful shot in doing so, and B. 

 dropped him dead. 



The firing had disturbed a herd of elephants from 

 the forest, and they had swum the large river in the 

 neighbourhood, which was at that time so swollen 

 that we could not cross it. We, therefore, struck off 

 to the edge of the forest, where the waters of the lake 

 washed the roots of the trees, and from this point we 

 had a fine view of the greater portion. 



All the rogues that we had at first counted had 

 retired to their several entrances in the forest, except 

 the pair of desperadoes already mentioned- they knew 

 no fear, and had not heeded the shots fired. They 

 were tempting baits, and we determined to get them 

 if possible. These two elephants were standing belly- 



