Jungle By-Ways in India 



there was every reason to even then think would 

 be a good one, would take its place amongst many 

 another hardly-earned one ; but I wished to see 

 it in its native wilds. However, there was no help 

 for it. An eight-mile tramp through swampy, 

 boggy forests, followed by another eight miles 

 on the pad of an elephant, lay between me and 

 my night's halting-place, and there was no time 

 to lose if I wanted to get there before dark. 

 Leaving two men to continue the search for 

 Anacondu was certain the bull would drop that 

 day, with the hopes of liberal baksheesh as a 

 reward for success I started on one of the worst 

 eight miles it has ever been my lot to have to 

 accomplish. The excitement of the tracking being 

 now absent, there was nothing to keep one's 

 attention off the vileness of the ground we covered, 

 and to add to the discomfort the rain of one of 

 the wettest months of the year commenced falling 

 with that steady persistence which means that 

 it has set in for good. But what are such minor 

 trifles and disagreeables in comparison to such a 

 day as I had had ? Shall I ever see such a sight 

 as that closed-up herd again those wildly 

 tossing, gleaming yellow horns and stiffened, 

 erect, waving tails. Shall I ever watch it deter- 

 minedly making up its mind to charge, and, 

 with blood wildly coursing through my veins, 

 shall I realize that that charge is meant for me ? 

 Yes, I shall see it nay, I have seen it but it 



150 



