136 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



As she got near the bottom, she gathered fearful velocity, 

 and with an awful crash she went bang into a great 

 black tangled mass of creepers, at the bottom of which 

 she stuck, toes up. Seeing this, I took Lancaster and 

 ran as hard as I could after the other elephants. As 

 the Panea gave me the gun he pointed to one barrel, 

 and to my disgust I found in a fall he had stuffed it 

 cram full of mud. There was no time to alter it, so 

 making shift with the one I cut along after the others, 

 which, as this all happened like greased lightning, were 

 not yet out of sight. I soon found myself among them 

 much too close for safety, so taking a rather uncertain 

 shot I dropped the last of the fugitives with a pill 

 behind the left listener. Seeing she was not dead, and 

 having no more means, I turned and cut back along 

 the fresh-made road for another gun. I nearly knocked 

 my men over as they came racing after me round a 

 bamboo. Loaded Purdey as fast as possible, also 

 Lancaster's barrel, and was told by my shikaree that 

 one barrel of Moore was useless, as one of the locks 

 was gone. Pleasant, but ten months' hard work in 

 these heavy jungles tells, and must invariably tell, on 

 the guns of the most careful sportsman. Purdey still 

 stuck to me, but I found I had only three balls left 

 for her. ' It's enough,' thought I ; ' we'll never catch 

 them again surely ! ' The tackle being put to rights, 

 we again set off, and had not gone far when we heard 

 a crash to the left in the bamboos above us. This was 

 the last elephant, which had got up again, as I expected. 

 Getting on the track, we crept cautiously up to her. 

 The jungle was fearfully thick ; I could not see 3 yards 

 before me. At last a little crackle very close made 

 me aware of my position. This was unenviable (so 

 thought my men, who bolted quietly, leaving my guns 

 close to me) ; the brute was listening to make out my 



