HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



damaged. Government at once doubled the reward for his 

 destruction, and the Government Agent said to me, " Why 

 don't you have a try for him ? " I said, " All right, I will 

 bring him in," and started off next day, but hardly hoped 

 to be successful as several well-known shikaries, among 

 them the late Mr. Frank Fisher, had tried in vain. 



This elephant was very cunning, and changed his feed- 

 ing ground daily. 



My first attempt was when I reached the rest-house, 

 called Tumpalancholai, 20 miles from Batticaloa, near which 

 place he had just killed the " tappal " runner. 



Being informed that he usually crossed the road at a 

 particular place full of elephant tracks, and the night being 

 clear, I procured a rest-house chair and seated myself 

 just inside the forest, and awaited developments. It must 

 have been about ten o'clock when I heard an elephant 

 moving up to where I was, and he had got quite close to 

 the road when a gang of Moormen passing unfortunately 

 heard him too, and set off as hard as they could leg it, 

 yelling like fiends. This was too much for the elephant, 

 who tore off and broke cover farther down the road, and 

 though I ran as hard as I could, was just in time to see him 

 disappear. 



There was nothing to be done after this but to take up 

 his tracks, which I did, and followed him for two days 

 without being able to get a shot. At the end of the second 

 day, however, I had got in late, dead tired, and was camp- 

 ing at a cattle watcher's hut at the far end of the tank, 

 which was then almost dry. It was getting dusk, when at 

 the eastern side of the tank I saw three objects moving, 

 and pointed them out to the trackers, who said, "They are 

 buffaloes." They had hardly spoken when I saw one of 

 the supposed buffaloes reach up and break a branch off a 



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