THE BLAT ELEPHANT. 193 



a place where it had slept, and then heard it feeding 

 some two hundred yards away. The wind was in 

 our favour, and I moved towards it as noiselessly as 

 I could. I got within fifty yards, and could hear 

 with the most tantalising plainness the flapping of 

 its great ears against its neck, and the swishing of a 

 branch that it held in its trunk to fan its sides. I 

 could also hear the gurgling noises attendant on 

 digestion. But I could see nothing. I crept stealthily 

 closer, and saw a branch move. It swung gently to 

 and fro as the elephant slowly rubbed itself against 

 a tree. Then there was a sudden silence. This con- 

 tinued for a few seconds, and then I heard the ele- 

 phant move rapidly away. To have hastened after 

 it in the hope of catching it up would have been 

 worse than useless. The only thing to do was to 

 keep quiet for a few minutes until the elephant had 

 left the scene of its alarm. We were surprised to find 

 it so wide-awake and suspicious, and Ahman expressed 

 the feelings of us all by saying that even a deer would 

 not have shown such a lamentable excess of caution. 



We followed up the tracks for many miles after 

 this without seeing or hearing anything more of the 

 elephant. When the afternoon was wearing on, we 

 decided to give up for the day, and cut a line through 

 the forest to return to the house-boat. It was nearly 

 dark when we got back. As we were of opinion that 

 the elephant was making for a point some few miles 

 higher up the Blat river, I had the house -boat 

 poled up there in the hope of finding fresh tracks 

 the next day. 



After-dinner, while I lay upon my mattress in the 

 N 



