TACKLING A TUSKER. 59 



and so on. ' Coine,' I thought, c he must be 

 badly wounded to bleed so !' I therefore deter- 

 mined to follow him up, on the chance of getting 

 another shot. To this course Ramiah objected, 

 saying it was useless ; that he would go forty 

 miles without stopping ; that we were fourteen 

 miles from camp ; that it was getting ]ate, and 

 we might meet tigers on our return home ; that 

 it was not safe to stay out any longer in fact, 

 he adduced every argument his fertile brain could 

 imagine in order to persuade me from continuing 

 the pursuit. All in vain. My blood was up. and 

 I resolved to go on. 



The fact was Mr. Ramiah was in a mortal funk 

 at the bare idea of encountering the wounded 

 elephant, whilst I was proportionately keen to 

 do so. After reloading, we took up the tracks, 

 and I carried the big rifle myself, in case of a 

 sudden charge. The jungle showed unmistake- 

 able signs of the tusker's passage through it, and 

 the bent and broken saplings, and bamboos 

 crushed and trodden down like so much grass, 

 and plentifully besprinkled with blood, indicated 

 that he was hard hit, and half-mad with pain 

 and fright. After following the track for some 

 distance along the level of the plateau it turned 

 off abruptly at right angles, and led down the 

 steep side of a hill, clothed with high grass and 



