246 APPENDIX 



serves but to increase the danger. A 'rogue,' 

 on finding itself pursued by trackers, will retire 

 noiselessly into thick thorny cover, and, stepping 

 to one side, will then retrace its steps and halt 

 in some dense thicket close to its former path, 

 ready to burst forth without the slightest warning 

 on its unwary pursuers. These 'rogues' became 

 a standing menace to a whole district, and the 

 Government used to offer considerable sums as 

 a reward for their destruction. 



A notorious brute of this description infested 

 the district where I was first employed. One 

 morning his huge tracks were found deeply 

 marked in the soil of the garden adjoining the 

 verandah of the little wooden bungalow in which 

 I slept. The elephant had passed in the night 

 within not more than six or eight yards. Not 

 long after, two estate coolies, a man and woman, 

 were making a ' moonlight flitting ' and were 

 found in the morning by the roadside a mile 

 away, the woman dead, the man with a broken 

 thigh and otherwise terribly injured by this 

 brute. A plucky Malay ' conductor,' inspired 

 by the reward of a hundred rupees, was fool- 

 hardy enough to stalk the rogue single-handed. 

 He was armed with an ancient weapon that 

 looked more dangerous to the owner than to 

 the quarry, but he was lucky enough to kill 



