328 THE RIFLE AND HOUND IN CEYLON, chap. xil. 



we looked over an undulating sea of this grass, in- 

 terspersed with rocky hills and small patches of forest 

 Across a valley we now distinguished the herd, much 

 scattered, going off in all directions. They had 

 winded us, and left us but a poor chance of catching 

 them in such ground. Of course we lost no time in 

 giving chase. The sun was intensely hot — not a 

 breath of air was stirring, and the heat in the close, 

 parched grass was overpowering. With the length of 

 start that the elephants had got, we were obliged to 

 follow at our best pace, which, over such tangled 

 ground, was very fatiguing ; fortunately, however, 

 the elephants had not yet seen us, and they had 

 accordingly halted now and then, instead of going 

 straight off. 



There were only four elephants together, and, by a 

 great chance, we came up with them just as they were 

 entering a jungle. I got a shot at the last elephant 

 and killed him, but the others put on more steam, and 

 all separated, fairly beating us, as we were almost used 

 up by the heat. 



This was very bad luck, and we returned in despair 

 of finding the scattered herd. We had proceeded 

 some distance through the high grass, having just 

 descended a steep, rocky hill, when we suddenly ob- 

 served two elephants approaching along the side of 

 the very hill that we had just left. Had we remained 

 in the centre of the hill, we should have met them as 



