The Find. 163 



ground. Immediately before me rose the hill from 

 which the elk had barked ; beneath my feet the- river 

 stretched into a wide pool on its entrance to the jungle. 

 This jungle clothed the precipitous cliffs of a deep ra- 

 vine, down which the river fell in two cataracts, which 

 were concealed from view by the forest. I waited in 

 breathless expectation of " the find." A few minutes 

 passed, when the sudden burst of the pack in full cry 

 came sweeping down upon the light breeze ; loudly the 

 cheering sound swelled as they topped the hill, and 

 again it died away as they crossed some deep ravine. 

 In a few minutes the cry became very distant, as the 

 elk was evidently making straight up the hills : once or 

 twice I feared he would cross them, and make away 

 for a different part of the country. The cry of the 

 pack was so indistinct that my ear could barely catch 

 it, when suddenly a gust of wind from that direction 

 brought down a chorus of voices that there was no mis- 

 taking : louder and louder the cry became ; the elk had 

 turned, and was coming down the hill-side at a slap- 

 ping pace. The jungle crashed as he came rushing 

 through the yielding branches. Out he came, break- 

 ing cover in fine style, and away he dashed over the 

 open country. He was a noble buck, and had got a 

 long start : not a single hound had yet appeared, but I 

 heard them coming through the jungle in full cry. 

 Down the side of the hill he came straight to the pool 

 beneath my feet. Yoick to him ! Hark forward to 

 him ! and I gave a view holloa till my lungs had well- 

 nigh cracked. I had lost sight of him as he had taken 

 to water in the pool within the jungle. 



One more halloa ! and out came the gallant old fel- 

 low Smut from the jungle, on the exact line that the 



