228 THE RIFLE AND HOUND IN CEYLON chap. x. 



the nap of an elephant's ear in the high grass, about 

 thirty paces from me, and upon careful inspection I 

 distinguished two elephants standing close together. 

 By the rustling of the grass in different places I could 

 see that the herd was scattered, but I could not make 

 out the elephants individually, as the grass was above 

 their heads. 



I paused for some minutes to consider the best plan 

 of attack ; but the gun-bearers, who were behind me, 

 being in a great state of excitement, began to whisper 

 to each other, and in arranging their positions behind 

 their respective masters, they knocked several of the 

 guns together. In the same moment, the two leading 

 elephants discovered us, and, throwing their trunks up 

 perpendicularly, they blew the shrill trumpet of alarm 

 without attempting to retreat. Several trumpets an- 

 swered the call immediately from different positions in 

 the high grass, from which, trunks were thrown up, and 

 huge heads just appeared in many places, as they en- 

 deavoured to discover the danger which the leaders had 

 announced. 



The growl of an elephant is exactly like the rum- 

 bling of thunder, and from their deep lungs the two 

 leaders, who had discovered us, kept up an uninter- 

 rupted peal, thus calling the herd together. Never- 

 theless, they did not attempt to retreat, but stood 

 gazing attentively at us with their ears cocked, look- 

 ing extremely vicious. In the meantime, we stood 



