202 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



of swamp, and saw that the elephant, instead of 

 wading through the swamp, had used the tree as a 

 bridge to walk upon. This was most disheartening, 

 and Ahman, cursing the elephant heartily for a tight- 

 rope dancer, urged me to hasten, saying that the 

 animal was now in all probability going faster than 

 we were. We therefore pushed on as fast as possible, 

 trusting that any sound we might make would be 

 unheard by the elephant in the noise of its own 

 movements. 



But we had soon to redouble our caution, for in 

 one place the elephant had taken a sudden loop and 

 turned round to watch its own tracks. This is not 

 unusual with wounded animals whose strength and 

 size makes them dangerous, such as rhinoceroses, 

 sladang, and elephants ; and when any animal adopts 

 these tactics, its pursuers are running a very great 

 risk. They see the tracks lying before them, and 

 naturally only look for danger in front. But what 

 has happened is that the animal has all but com- 

 pleted a great letter P. It just stops short of com- 

 pleting the lower part of the loop of the capital 

 letter, and, standing back a few yards from the main 

 line of the letter, watches its pursuers advance. It 

 allows them to pass, and then without warning it 

 charges them from behind. 



On this occasion, however, luckily for us, the 

 elephant had for some reason moved on again before 

 we reached the spot which it had been watching. 



At about two o'clock in the afternoon the tracks 

 turned toward the river. Our luck here deserted us. 

 The elephant decided to recross, and made for the 



