A Jungle Trip. 279 



each other in a confused melee, and crossed the river 

 with the greatest difficulty. By some bad luck, Palliser 

 and Wortley only killed one as the herd was crossing 

 the river, but they immediately disappeared in pursuit, 

 as the elephants, having effected their passage, retreated 

 in thick jungle on the other side. 



I was obliged to halt to load, which I did as quickly 

 as possible. While I was ramming the balls down, I 

 heard several shots fired in quick succession, and when 

 loaded I ran on with my gun-bearers toward the spot. 



It was bad, thorny jungle, interspersed with numer- 

 ous small glades of fine turf. 



Upon arriving in one of these glades, about a quarter 

 of a mile beyond the river, I saw a crowd of gun-bear- 

 ers standing around some person lying upon the ground ; 

 neither Palisser nor Wortley were to be seen, and for 

 an instant a chill ran through me as I felt convinced 

 that some accident had happened. " Where are mas- 

 ters?" I shouted to the crowd of men, and the next mo- 

 ment I was quite relieved by seeing only a coolie lying 

 on the ground. On examining the man I found he was 

 more frightened than hurt, although he was cut in 

 several places and much bruised. 



Upon giving a shout, Palliser and Wortley returned 

 to the spot. They now explained the mystery. They 

 were running on the fresh tracks in this glade, no ele- 

 phants being then in sight, when they suddenly heard a 

 rush in the jungle, and in another instant two elephants 

 charged out upon them. Wortley and Palliser both 

 fired, but without effect — the gun-bearers bolted — an 

 elephant knocked one man over, and tried to butt him 

 against the ground ; but two more shots from both Pal- 

 liser and Wortley turned him, but they were imme- 



