204 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



Down he fell ! His companion turned at the sound and 

 gave me a front shot ; dropping on one knee, I fired, and he 

 fell stone dead. I thought the first also was as dead as Julius 

 Caesar, and, as I was going towards them, he picked himself 

 up and charged full at me. I fortunately had the spare rifle, 

 and gave him a right and left, and threw myself under the lee 

 of a buttress ; as the monster passed, he all but trod on me. 

 He only ran a few yards, and then right-about faced and bore 

 down towards me again, but I had shifted my position further 

 back behind another buttress or he would have had me. I now 

 noticed that he was hunting for me by scent, for one of my 

 last shots had knocked out one eye, and the other had, to a 

 certain extent, paralysed the trunk, and the blood was pouring 

 from the wound into the sound optic. So I retreated behind 

 another tree some 20 yards further, where I found the 

 shikarie, who had loaded his rifle. I soon loaded mine the 

 bullets fitted beautifully and in pushing them down they 

 made no noise. Being ready for battle again, I stepped clear 

 and gave him the contents of both barrels into the temple, 

 but as I fired he threw up his head, and neither missile reached 

 the brain. On receiving these wounds he blindly rushed 

 forward, a buttress caught his fore-feet, and down he went, 

 such a cropper ! I seized the other rifle and gave him two 

 shots as he was attempting to rise, but he bore a charmed 

 life, and I again failed to kill. He then retreated. As soon 

 as I had both weapons ready I took up his trail. Considering 

 the terrible nature of his wounds, inflicted at a distance of 

 only a few yards, and the cropper he had come, it was mar- 

 vellous at what a rate he went away. We had to follow at a 

 trot, and when he heard us coming he either hid and then 

 rushed at us, or spun round and charged blindly. I fired no 

 less than eleven more shots, but failed egregiously to put him 

 out of his misery. It was getting too dark in the gloomy 

 forest for accurate shooting, and the monster kept his head 

 tossing about as if possessed of a perpetual motion. To hit 

 the brain, except by a fluke, was hopeless, so we left him, 

 determined to follow him to the death on the morrow. 



We could not find the coolie with our food ; he had 

 disappeared during the scrimmage. To return to camp was 



