ADVENTURES IN CAMP AND JUNGLE. 347 



once, but so well had she concealed herself that the elephants 

 had passed within a few feet of her before she was observed. 

 A shot brought her charging into the open ground, where she 

 was slain. 



We then went after the panther, who was lying among the 

 rocks in a small but rocky Tavine running down to the Maun. 

 On being started, he made a rush up the bank, and dis- 

 appeared under a huge fragment of rock. Bashi and Froom 

 having posted themselves, I went above on an elephant, and 

 commenced to heave down big stones. My left wrist having 

 been partially disabled in my encounter with the bear in 

 1857, I am unable to grasp my rifle with that hand, and in 

 shooting, the gun merely rests in its position by its own 

 weight. A stone having fallen near the panther, he gave a 

 sharp growl, and the elephant suddenly stepping back, I was 

 thrown forward against the rail of the howdah. One of the 

 knobs which divide the spare guns struck the trigger, and the 

 rifle, which was heavily loaded, went off. The force of the 

 explosion pitched it clean over, and being only loosely held in 

 my right hand, it fell on the rocks below, breaking the stock. 

 Just before this mishap, fearing lest they should be in the 

 way, I had insisted on a number of our men leaving a tree 

 which stood a few paces off, and into which they had climbed 

 to see the fun. But for this percaution, one of them would in 

 all probability have been killed, for the ball, on leaving the 

 rifle, passed through the branches. 



A few more stones served to dislodge the panther, but he 

 bolted out with such a sudden rush that he got away up the 

 ravine unhurt. Two of my men had been posted higher up, 

 and as the panther came opposite to them, he halted on a 

 ledge of rock. The men, who were armed, one with a single- 



