ISO SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



joined by the native who had followed me in the 

 morning. The poor old bull was evidently getting 

 weak ; he had walked in a staggering way down a 

 grassy hill, at the bottom of which lay a thicket larger 

 and more dense than any we had yet passed. A 

 strange feeling seemed to tell me that I was near him 

 at last. Silently but quickly we entered this thicket. 

 The track crossed and recrossed itself, so we separated, 

 the native going one way and I the other. I was 

 peering about, having, as I thought, searched every- 

 where, with my whole being on the alert, when I heard 

 a little hiss, and looking over my shoulder, saw my 

 native friend, his face in a beam of excitement, 

 beckoning and gesticulating furiously. On going to 

 him he pointed before him, and instead of an elephant, 

 what should I see but Hamilton leaning against a tree, 

 white and breathless with running, but I could see by 

 his face that he had seen something. I crept to him, 

 and pointing before him into a hollow where the jungle 

 was not very thick, he said, " There is the old fellow ! " 

 I will not hold forth upon this ; it speaks for itself. 

 One of the best sportsmen in India within 20 

 yards of such an elephant, and because I had worked 

 so hard, as he says, but I believe from pure generosity, 

 he would not fire at him. He was a little too far, but 

 it was dangerous to go much closer, as he looked as if 

 he had heard us already. His whole broadside was 

 exposed to us, but his head was the part I could see 

 best. Quietly and steadily I covered his head, about 

 the region of the ear, and fired ! At the report there 

 was a low muffled groan and a terrible crash, and 

 instead of the elephant's back and head, two huge legs 

 stuck up in the air. We rushed down together, and I 

 have a dim recollection of Hamilton hugging me. But 

 the work was not done yet ; he was very nearly up 



