140 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



It will interest them, and I have not had time to write 

 this mail. I am in the midst of bullets, bullet-moulds, 

 powder-flasks, and greased wadding, in preparation for 

 a start to-day for more elephants. 



Henry 1 might care to wade through this." 



THE MONSTER TUSKER 



At daylight we (Colonel Hamilton and myself) 

 were called by Francis, and after seeing that we had 

 all the necessary ammunition, etc., with us, away we 

 started for the valley that lay to the east of the little 

 bungalow. It was a damp, muggy morning, and as 

 we stopped among the bamboos at the entrance of the 

 valley, the sun was just struggling up among the dark 

 rugged hills at our backs. A few birds had just begun 

 to chirp about us, and every now and again the mourn- 

 ful howl of an old jackal, going home after his midnight 

 rambles, was the only sound that broke the almost 

 painful silence that reigned around us. Notwith- 

 standing, however, it was a glorious morning for the 

 work ; the air, though oppressive and heavy, was much 

 better than what we had been living in for the last few 

 days, and the ease with which we got over the ground 

 was very delightful. Bamboos of a rough and rather 

 poor description, with mixed thorny underwood, was 

 the general character of the jungle. Elephant tracks 

 went zigzagging in all directions some large, some 

 small, some old, and some fresh. Branches torn down 

 and lying carelessly strewn about tripped us up in the 

 dusky light. I know nothing that gives one such a 

 feeling of being in reality amongst the wildest of 

 nature's haunts as following close in the wake of a 



1 The late Brigadier-General Henry Brooke, killed at Kandahar, a 

 first cousin of Sir Victor's. 



