40 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



meal of rice and chicken, and set off to pick up 

 the tracks of the day before. We were soon on the 

 ground, and then proceeded in the same order as on 

 the two previous days. Soon we came on the spot 

 where " old kramat " had spent the night. He had 

 fed heavily on lush grass and young shrubs, and had 

 wallowed for some hours. This was bad, very bad 

 indeed, for the night before he had barely eaten a 

 few mouthfuls, and had not wallowed at all ; and now 

 it seemed as though he were better and stronger after 

 the second day than he had been after the first. 

 Pa' Senik, who was close behind, came up, shook his 

 old head, and intimated that he had told us over- 

 night that if the rhinoceros reached Changkat Larang 

 his wounds would heal : the hill was now not far off, 



and then I cut him short, and, picking up the 



tracks, pressed on. In a few minutes a rush some 

 twenty yards ahead of us showed that our quarry 

 was again afoot. This was worse than ever. Hither- 

 to every time that we had come up with him we 

 had managed to catch a glimpse of him ; but now he 

 would not let us come within sight of him, and I 

 felt inclined to give up hope. To-day was my last 

 chance, for I had to be back at my headquarters the 

 next morning. The brute was stronger and better 

 than he had been the day before, and now he refused 

 to allow us to come to close quarters, and climax 

 of despair he was heading straight for Changkat 

 Larang. 



One ray of hope remained. The rush we had heard 

 seemed but a short one seemed, I say ; for even so 

 huge a brute as an elephant, after its first startled 



