98 GUN, RIFLE, AND HOUND. 



I was waked next morning by hearing an English 

 voice asking my boy * whose camp this was. I 

 jumped out of the travelling cart, and to my surprise, 

 I saw an Englishman on horseback. We soon frater- 

 nised, for introductions are not essential in the jungle, 

 seventy miles from anywhere. I found Will had gone 

 off shooting at daylight. 



As soon as the stranger mentioned his name, 



which was F , I knew who he was. He was 



one of the most celebrated elephant shots in the 

 island, one of the two who had been put in charge of 

 the Prince of Wales during his tour. I asked him 

 what he was doing there, and he explained that he 

 was Revenue Officer at an out-of-the-way station 

 called Vivoniavivankulam, and that, finding the time 

 rather heavy on his hand, he had got a few days' 

 leave and ridden nearly across the island to look for 

 a notorious rogue elephant hereabouts, who had killed 

 so many men and done so much mischief that the 

 Government had increased the usual reward upon his 

 head to 10. 



" Perhaps you'll come too and have a shy at him," 

 he remarked casually. I need hardly say I was wild 

 with delight at the thought. I had never had a 

 chance to shoot an elephant in those days, and now 

 to be offered one at a notorious rogue, and in company 

 which I considered made his death a certainty ! The 

 idea took away my breath. 



Meanwhile, it turned out F had missed his 



camp, and none of my people knew it by name. I 

 * Servant. All Ceylon servants are boys, even if gray-headed. 



