326 THE RIFLE AND rfOUND IN CEYLON, chap. xil. 



Wortley fired at him, but without effect, and unfortu- 

 nately the shot frightened the herd, which was not a 

 quarter of a mile distant, and the elephants retreated 

 to a large tract of thick jungle country, where pursuit 

 was impracticable. Our party was too large for shoot- 

 ing ' rogues ' with any degree of success. These 

 brutes, being always on the alert, require the most 

 careful stalking. There is only one way to kill them 

 with any certainty. Two persons, at most, to attack ; 

 each person to be accompanied by only one gun- 

 bearer, who should carry two spare guns. One good 

 tracker should lead this party of five people in single 

 file. With great caution and silence, being well to 

 leeward of the elephants, he can thus generally be 

 approached till within twelve paces, and he is then 

 killed by one shot before he knows that danger is 

 near. What with our gun-bearers, trackers, watchers 

 and ourselves, we were a party of sixteen persons ; 

 it was therefore impossible to get near a rogue un- 

 perceived. 



On the way to the tent I got a shot at a deer at 

 full gallop on ' old Jack.' It was a doe, who bounded 

 over the plain at a speed that soon out-distanced my 

 horse, and I took a flying shot from the saddle with 

 one of my No. 10 rifles. I did not get the deer, 

 although she was badly wounded, as we followed the 

 blood-tracks for some distance through thick jungle 

 without success. 



