234 JIN ABU FINDS 



our ankles in mud at every step. Crawling on 

 hands and knees for several hundred yards, I came 

 finally to where I could dimly distinguish the dark 

 legs of several elephants, which seemed to be stand- 

 ing on higher ground than we ; but it was impos- 

 sible to see clearly enough through the jungle to 

 definitely locate them. My only course was to 

 close in, so I continued crawling, in the hope of 

 getting in position for a shot ; but again they moved 

 off. Whether they had got our wind I can not say, 

 though the sense of smell in the elephant is very 

 highly developed. Lying there on my stomach, 

 with head on the mud in an effort to peer 

 through the bushes and ferns, I could hear them 

 moving in the determined, persistent manner 

 which means they are leaving and not feeding; 

 then I saw the bushes give and sway, and the 

 shadow of huge dark objects crossing directly 

 ahead of me. I could distinguish absolutely 

 nothing ; only I could see the place where agitated 

 undergrowth told of great bodies pushing a way 

 through the jungle not over twenty feet from 

 me. There wasn't one chance in a hundred of my 

 scoring on the invisible target, but in sheer des- 

 peration I determined to take that one, and without 

 looking around I motioned my Malay— whom in 

 my earnest stalk I had not thought of and supposed 

 to be behind me, following— to give me the 12- 



