SHOOTING ELEPHANTS BY MOONLIGHT 



It appeared that at the end of the last beat a partridge 

 rising in front of him, had flown down the line, he had fired 

 at it, but too late, and missing the bird, hit an elephant 

 and mahout who were in the line of fire. 



Fortunately, being at the end of the line they were 

 some distance off, hence neither were seriously injured; 

 nevertheless, the author of this exploit ha'd a bad time of 

 it for some months. However, by sticking doggedly to the 

 business, he triumphed in the end, eventually becoming 

 one of the best sportsmen in the district. 



****** 



Some months after the Christmas meeting, when the 

 rainy season had set in, I had occasion to visit this part 

 of the district again to investigate a dacoity case, and was 

 encamped about sixteen miles from a place called Karjot, 

 on the Kanara borders, where I had established a system 

 of mounted patrols for the suppression of dacoities. 



One afternoon about three o'clock, a sowar * belonging 

 to these patrols rode into camp, evidently much excited, 

 and reported that the elephants we had been in quest of 

 were at the moment close to Karjot, where they had already 

 done, and were doing, a considerable amount of damage 

 to the villages. I started at once, but as my men were all on 

 foot, we did not reach the village until late in the evening, 

 when I found a deputation of some two hundred villagers 

 awaiting my arrival, all in a great state of excitement, 

 as they declared that the elephants were quite near, and 

 only waiting for nightfall to revisit their crops. 



They showed me their wheat and paddy fields, acres of 

 which, I saw, had been trodden down and destroyed by 

 these destructive brutes. As there was a good moon and 

 the night therefore almost as light as day, we took up their 

 tracks at once, and soon came on the elephants in a network 

 of ravines some three-quarters of a mile from the village. 



The herd consisted of three bulls and some fourteen 

 cows, and very imposing they looked in the moonlight ; 

 though not to be compared, in my opinion, to their African 

 brethren, either in stature or general appearance. The 

 wind being favourable, I carried out my old plan of creeping 

 close up to them, and it was greatly to the credit of my two 



* Trooper, 



201 



