chap. xil. A JUNGLE TRIP. 317 



close up, away we dashed after them at full speed ; 

 down the steep hollow and through the high lemon 

 grass, now trampled into lanes by the retreating ele- 

 phants. 



In one instant the jungle seemed alive; there were 

 upwards of fifty elephants in the herd. The trumpets 

 rang through the forest, the young trees and under- 

 wood crashed in all directions with an overpowering 

 noise, as this mighty herd, bearing everything before 

 it, crashed in one united troop through the jungle. 



At the extreme end of the grassy hollow there was 

 a snug corner formed by an angle in the jungle. A 

 glade of fine short turf stretched for a small distance 

 into the forest, and, as the herd seemed to be bearing 

 down in this direction, Wortley and I posted off as 

 hard as we could go, hoping to intercept them if 

 they crossed the glade. We arrived there in a few 

 moments, and taking our position on this fine level 

 sward, about ten paces from the forest, we awaited the 

 apparently irresistible storm that was bursting exactly 

 upon us. 



No pen, nor tongue can describe the magnificence 

 of the scene ; the tremendous roaring of the herd, min- 

 gled with the shrill screams of other elephants; the 

 bursting stems of the broken trees ; the rushing sound 

 of the leafy branches as though a tempest were howl- 

 ing through them — all this concentrating with great 

 rapidity upon the very spot upon which we were stand- 



