A PAIR OF BE A UTIES 203 



before I could bag my elephant my work lay before me. I 

 had at that time a two-grove, No. lO-bore double rifle, made by 

 old Joseph Lang. I was so pleased with it that I had another 

 made like it afterwards, but at that time I only had one of his 

 and one of Sam Smith's, both noted makers in India. The 

 shikarie carried one weapon, I the other. They were muzzle- 

 loaders, of course, as breech-loaders had not come into use 

 then. He led the way, I next, and the coolie about 100 yards 

 in the rear, keeping us. just in sight. 



About 7 a.m. we came upon the fresh spoors of two 

 elephants ; they had been feeding quietly and moving along 

 leisurely, so we had no difficulty in tracking them. Those 

 who wish to slay these leviathans in their forest homes need 

 be sound of wind and limb, for it is no child's play following 

 them up, for quietly as they feed along they are ever on the 

 move, and get over the ground far faster than one would 

 believe. Occasionally, when the weather is very oppressive, 

 a beast may take a siesta and be caught napping, but where 

 we were the heat was not outrageous, and these two had not 

 made any considerable halt, so it was close on four before we 

 came in sight of them, standing a few yards apart, pulling 

 down and browsing on the tender shoots of the bamboo. The 

 noise they made in rending the bamboos and then converting 

 them into pulp by beating them on a foot, deadened the 

 sound of our footsteps, and I had no difficulty, the wind being 

 in our favour, in reaching a buttress which afforded good 

 shelter and was within easy shot. The two animals differed 

 greatly, they might have been father and son. The one near- 

 est me was an old emaciated male with long tusks, the 

 other was in his prime, very handsome to look at. What a 

 beauty he would have made for a howdah elephant ! We 

 had no means of entrapping him, but it seemed a shame 

 almost to devote him to death for the sake of his tusks alone ; 

 but what will not a hunter do with the furor of the chase upon 

 him ! 



Motioning to the shikarie to stand close, ready with the 

 spare rifle, I waited until a movement of the old one exposed 

 the temple shot ; then, stepping aside, I took a quick but 

 steady aim and let fly. 



