v THE MONSTER TUSKER 143 



as I might I never was doomed to see him again, and 

 was forced, after running half a mile or so, to retrace 

 my steps crestfallen and disgusted. We had a most 

 weary walk home, the sun coming out and broiling us 

 long before we got to the bungalow. After breakfast 

 I rolled myself up in a coil in my old camp bed and 

 lay chewing the cud of vexation and disappointment. 

 I had passed about an hour in this unenviable state of 

 mind, and was just beginning to comfort myself with 

 inward vows against the next bull elephant I might 

 meet with, when one of the servants came up to say 

 that a native had seen three elephants, one a young 

 bull, in an open in the forest about 4 miles from the 

 camp. This was indeed good news, if true ; in less 

 time than it takes to write it, we had thrown on our 

 clothes and started. We had not gone a mile when we 

 came upon a small tank, the banks of which were 

 literally flattened down with the tracks of evidently an 

 immense elephant. Encouraged by this, though the 

 marks were all three or four days old, we strode on, led 

 by the native who had brought the news. The forest 

 was entirely different to the one we had been in in the 

 morning. It consisted entirely of a shrub of the most 

 thorny and malignant nature possible to be conceived. 

 If we went near a bush it would manage to catch and 

 entangle us in a manner that required great self-control 

 to effect a liberation without the sacrifice of half one's 

 garments. However, it's a long lane that's got no 

 turning, and after about a mile of this uncomfortable 

 and provoking style of country, we found ourselves 

 winding along the tops of a low range of hills, on the 

 summit of which the jungle only grew in small thick 

 clumps. It was terribly hot, and the sun burned away 

 immediately above our heads. 



As we approached the valley where our dusky friend 



