chap. x. HERD ESCAPE. 243 



waited for some hours in the forest, close to the edge 

 of the chenar, trying every dodge in vain to induce 

 the herd to quit their stronghold. They were con- 

 tinually on the qui vive. Sometimes a tremendous 

 rush would be heard in the thick jungle as the herd 

 would charge towards us ; but they invariably stopped 

 just upon the borders, and would not venture into the 

 open forest. On one occasion I thought we had them : 

 they rushed to the edge of the thick jungle, and sud- 

 denly filed off to the left and halted in a line within a 

 few feet of the forest. We were within six paces of 

 them, concealed behind the trunks of several large 

 trees, from which we could discover the dim forms of 

 six elephants through the screen of thorns, which had 

 a similar effect to that produced by looking through a 

 gauze veil. For some moments they stood in an 

 attitude of intense attention, and I momentarily ex- 

 pected them to break cover, as we were perfectly still 

 and motionless in our concealed position. Suddenly 

 they winded us, and whisked round to the thick jungle, 

 disappearing like magic. 



We now tried the effect of bullying, and we sent 

 men to different parts of the jungle to shout and fire 

 guns ; this stirred up the wrath of the rogue, and he 

 suddenly burst from the thick jungle and rushed into 

 the open forest right among us. We were both 

 standing behind the trees ; and the gun-bearers, with 

 f-he exception of Wallace, had thrown the guns down 



