58 SHIKAR SKETCHES. 



as I stooped down and peered under the smoke, 

 expecting to see my foe prostrate on the ground, 

 there was a shrill trumpet, a scream of rage; 

 and all I saw was a huge red stern bolting off 

 as fast as it could ! 



In my rage and vexation at what I thought 

 was a miss, I did a thing which only a tyro 

 would have done under the circumstances, viz., 

 I blazed away my left barrel into the said retreat- 

 ing stern. Needless to say, with no perceptible 

 result, except to accelerate the elephant's flight. 

 Stepping from behind the tree, I met Ramiah's 

 reproachful look, and, as we both gazed mourn- 

 fully in the direction in which our game had 

 vanished, he observed, more by way of pleasing 

 me, I fancy, than with a due regard for truth, 



' Golee kya, sahib.' ( 4 He has eaten the bullet, 

 sir.') 



' He might have eaten a cart-load like it, and be 

 none the worse/ I mentally ejaculated, though, 

 of course, I did not give expression to my 

 thoughts, and merely remarked that ' I thought 

 I had hit him/ though I had serious doubts in 

 my own mind as to the veracity of this statement. 

 However, on going up to the spot where the 

 ' dantwallah ' had been standing, my spirits were 

 revived by the sight of a drop or two of blood, 

 further on more, then a great splash on a stone, 



