chap. iv. ELEPHAKT. 199 



sat down and waited for the men to come up, more espe- 

 cially with the object of pitching into the hunter who had 

 stolen a march upon me and frightened the elephant, for 

 which, indeed, he did not care much, as he had earned five 

 head of cattle as payment by first wounding it, and so 

 securing it when killed as his own, and when they joined 

 us we started in pursuit. It was bleeding a good deal, 

 and was evidently hard hit, and in about half an hour we 

 saw it about two hundred yards ahead, slowly walking 

 away with lowered trunk through the thorn- dotted 

 jungle. 



I had some difficulty in restraining the others, who 

 wanted to run in at once when we saw him, but forcing 

 them to keep in Indian file headed by myself, we stole 

 forward, taking advantage of anything that would conceal 

 us until we got within seventy yards, when, as the ground 

 before us was bare, we ran in, each one taking his own 

 line and making as little noise as possible. At last he 

 caught sight of the outermost, and the change from his 

 attitude of sickness and dejection to that of furious anger 

 was instantaneous. 



I think this was the first time that he had seen any of 

 his enemies, and the moment that he did so, cocking his 

 huge ears till they looked like studding-sails, and elevating 

 his trunk over his head, he charged straight back, trum- 

 peting loudly. The man he singled out fired nervously, 

 missing, and took to his heels ; the other three hunters fired 

 simultaneously, and followed his example, while I, being 

 so near that I feared to draw his attention to me if I ran, 

 knelt down behind a shrub large enough to conceal me, 

 and as he passed in pursuit fired right and left into his 



