"ACCURATE SHOOTING VERY NECESSARY" 



till daybreak, when he may expect the animal's return, for 

 it is a common fact that, unless in any way disturbed or 

 alarmed, a " rhino " will invariably return to its lair within 

 the forest by the path it made on last going out. 



Hence, if the sportsman is successful in concealing his 

 elephant completely and keeping it, and himself, quite 

 still, he has every chance of obtaining an easy shot as the 

 animal comes back, which it generally does at a walk or, 

 at worst, a lumbering trot. 



Great care, however, must be taken that no shot is fired 

 until the beast is well in front of the position taken up, for 

 this not only ensures a more certain and fatal shot but also 

 considerably lessens the danger of the animal charging, 

 which it most certainly would do should the shot be fired 

 from any position in front of it and not prove immediately 

 fatal. 



If, however, in spite of all precautions taken, the 

 animal, after receiving the shot, does not continue in the 

 direction it was going, but stops or turns round, this may 

 be taken as an indication that hostilities are about to 

 commence and the sportsman must then prepare for a 

 desperate encounter, for its marvellously keen sense of 

 scent and hearing will soon enable the now infuriated 

 beast to discover whence the shot was fired, and it will 

 charge immediately in that direction. Meanwhile, the 

 elephant, unlikely to await such an attack, will probably 

 have turned and fled as soon as it had heard or seen its 

 enemy approaching. The situation now will not be 

 difficult to imagine : on the one hand, a large and powerful 

 animal, maddened with pain and rage, thirsting to revenge 

 itself upon its foe, while, on the other, the elephant, equally 

 mad with fear, flying helter-skelter through the jungle, its 

 riders liable at any moment to be brushed off the pad and 

 hurled into the path of the pursuing beast or precipitated, 

 together with their mount, into some yawning chasm, such 

 as a dry river-bed or quicksand, of which there are many 

 in such jungles. 



Such then are some of the perils to which the Indian 

 sportsman hunting dangerous game on elephants is liable, 

 and to which must be added perils issuing from causes 

 quite unconnected with the animal he is hunting, as for 



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