THE MONSTER BAGGED AT LAST 205 



not to be thought of; sleeping out for a night is no great 

 hardship to a real hunter, so we went back to the elephant I 

 had slain. We collected sufficient debris to keep our fires 

 going all night, and then, declining to partake of any portion 

 of the flesh of the elephant, which the shikarie had cut off and 

 partially cooked, I lay down alongside the elephant, and 

 using one of his ankles as a pillow, and bidding the man light 

 a couple of fires and keep them going, I was soon fast asleep. 



When I awoke just before dawn I felt a little hungry, and 

 missed my cup of coffee, but tightening my belt and washing 

 my face in the first little stream we came to, we resumed our 

 chase. He must have got ahead fully ten miles, which we 

 had to make up, so we walked along at a pretty brisk pace. 

 When I was all but exhausted I espied a peacock and 

 bowled him over. We carried him till we came to water, and 

 then kabobed some of its flesh over some embers and made a 

 hearty meal. 



We did not overtake the tusker that day, so slept in the 

 jungle again, but felt the cold considerably, for we had been 

 steadily ascending. To make matters worse our fires died 

 out, and we were pretty well benumbed by the morning, and 

 glad to resume our pursuit. Every now and then we came 

 upon where the poor stricken brute had struck the boles of 

 trees, the result of his more than half blindness, and also 

 where he had lain down in a mass of gore. We noticed also that 

 his stride became shorter and shorter, and that he had leant 

 against a tree or two for support all signs of increasing 

 weakness so we pressed on with renewed hopes. 



The country we were in was pretty open forest, with here 

 and there patches of long grass. We had just passed one, 

 with our eyes riveted on the ground, when there was a 

 fiendish screech, and a bloody form all but tottered on to the 

 top of us ! I jumped aside, and fired both barrels into his 

 carcase, close to the shoulder. This reduced him to a slow 

 walk, and he struggled along with his trunk pendant and limp, 

 and altogether his aspect was a woebegone one. I seized the 

 other rifle, ran forward, and as he flopped an ear forward I 

 fired into the space behind it, and staggering along two or 

 three yards, he fell forward dead ! 



