THE FELINE AND CANINE TRIBES. 117 
The officers now lost all hopes of keeping their 
elephant in order. He turned round abruptly, and 
was going away quite ungovernable, when the lion 
again sprang at him, seized his hinder parts with 
his teeth, and hung on them until the affrighted 
animal managed to shake him off by incessant 
kicking. 
The lion retreated farther into the thicket ; Cap- 
tain Woodhouse in the meantime firing a random 
shot at him, which proved of no avail, as the jolting 
of the elephant and the uproar of the moment pre- 
vented him from taking a steady aim. No exertions 
on the part of the officers could now force the ter- 
rified elephant to face his fierce foe, and they found 
themselves reduced to the necessity of dismounting. 
Determined, however, to come to still closer quar- 
ters with the formidable king of quadrupeds, Capt. 
Woodhouse took the desperate resolution to proceed 
on foot in quest of him ; and after searching about for 
some time, he observed the lion indistinctly through 
the bushes, and discharged his rifle at him; but he 
was pretty well convinced that he had not hit him, 
for he saw the lion retire with the utmost composure 
into the thicker parts of the brake. The two lieu- 
tenants, who had remained at the outside of the 
jungle, joined their companion on hearing the report 
of his gun. 
The weather was intolerably sultry. After vainly 
spending a considerable time in creeping through 
the grass and bushes, with the hope of discovering 
the place of the lion’s retreat, they concluded that 
he had passed quite through the jungle, and gone 
13 
