396 Incidents of Foreign Field Sport. 



extensive, and we beat it through and through with- 

 out discovering any signs of our quarry. Yet he must 

 be somewhere near, for the markers declared he had 

 not moved. We had avoided two or three heavy rose- 

 bushes because they were almost impenetrable and 

 such a mass of thorns, that even the pachydermatous 

 hide of an elephant was not proof against them. So 

 bidding the mahout force his way through every 

 brake, we got through a couple, not without many 

 protestations on the part of our gee-gee. But when 

 we came to the third, and the worst of the three, he 

 steadily refused to negotiate it, and when hard pressed 

 became obstinate and commenced to shake himself, 

 and very nearly sent me, the howdah and the guns 

 flying. I was getting savage, and vented my rage on 

 the mahout, who brought his ancus down with all 

 his might on Behemoth's cranium with a whack which 

 could have been heard a quarter of a mile off, and 

 ought to have given the recipient a headache for a 

 week. Still he would not go into the bush ; but we 

 were saved all further trouble by the tiger rushing 

 out. The elephant spun round to bolt, but the feline 

 was too quick, for him and sprang on to his hind 

 quarters and commenced to clamber up rather too 

 close to the howdah to be pleasant. Our steed went 

 off at full speed how he did run to be sure ; I had no 

 idea he possessed such a nice turn of speed. I was 

 rather upset by this sudden onslaught, and the pace 

 we were going at. The tiger had his head close to 

 the back seat of the howdah and intended going for 

 me, but I am well accustomed to riding elephants, 

 whether at a sedate step or at a gallop. (It is ambling 

 of course, for no elephant can gallop, but they can go 



