AN ELEPHANT 229 



if all the trees in Sumatra were being torn up and 

 simultaneously smashed to earth. In the midnight 

 jungle the noise seemed tremendous, as indeed it 

 was, and right at our very ears. I must confess 

 it was nerve-trying to lie quiet with that crashing 

 all around and no surety that the elephants making 

 it might not take a fancy to stalk in upon us, or 

 what minute the fancy might possess them. Nor 

 did it lend peace to the anxiety of the moment to 

 realize that one elephant, much less a herd, is only 

 now and again providentially stopped in his tracks 

 by powder and ball; for at the base of the trunk 

 and through the ear are the only places instantly 

 vulnerable to your rifle bullet; the elephant's brain 

 occupies a cavity not larger than ten by eleven 

 inches. To have an elephant break cover imme- 

 diately beside you is not so serious a matter on 

 hard open ground, where you may have a good 

 footing, trees, and a possibility of escape by 

 dodging ; but in a jungle where you can not make 

 your way except by constant use of knife, and sink 

 over your ankles in muck at every step, it is quite 

 another story, and one full of trouble on occasion. 



No charge is more dangerous than that of the 

 wounded or infuriated elephant. 



Needless to say, sleep was impossible while the 

 elephants ripped the jungle into pieces, and it was 

 too black to attempt hunting ; so we lay nervously, 



