200 THE ELEPHANT. 



yards from the edge of the detached piece of forest, but 

 he and his escort now decided to advance within close 

 range and fire at the elephant the next time he made 

 his appearance. An advance was accordingly made by 

 the party, but, to their surprise, no elephant or dogs 

 were then to be seen. All had become suddenly quiet 

 at that side, and it was very evident, from the direction 

 in which their barking was heard, that the dogs had 

 gone towards the rear. The fact is, there were three 

 elephants afoot, and the particular one which had 

 appeared repeatedly to the Duke and his party had 

 managed to elude the dogs and conceal himself from 

 view. Mr. George Rex, the captain of the hunt, now 

 called to a boy at a little distance, and told him to 

 mount his horse and ride to ascertain what was going 

 on in the rear. It is right, however, here to remark 

 that Middle Erf is intersected by a narrow road, 

 each side of which is thickly overgrown with fine bush. 

 Along this road the boy had to proceed, but he had 

 not gone far into the fine bush when we saw him 

 returning at full speed with the elephant after him in 

 hot pursuit. The monster, which has great speed 

 when he chooses to use it, was evidently gaining on 

 the horse, while the boy, calling out in Dutch, " Fire, 

 fire! for God's sake fire, or I shall be killed!" rode 

 for protection towards the Duke's party, and galloped 

 round their flank. Upon that the elephant did not 



