22 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



rush it was smashing through the long grass, 

 jumping over fallen trees and bent and broken 

 bamboos ; now running, doubled in two under 

 a dense canopy of branches, again tearing full- 

 speed across small open spaces in the forest ! 

 All the while, too, we were keenly alive to the 

 possibility that one of the herd might double 

 back for us with a rush ; for often a hard- 

 pressed elephant will wait absolutely motionless 

 in cover until the hunter is quite near, when 

 he will charge without any warning scream, 

 giving his adversary no time to aim, barely time 

 to drive the bullets in his face in the hope 

 that one will reach his brain or that their 

 impact will make him swerve aside or turn. 



All at once, as we careered madly on, the sharp 

 snapping of some bamboos, a few hundred yards 

 ahead, warned us that we were in critical proximity 

 to our quarry, so we slowed down, and, discovering 

 that we were to windward of them, ceased following 

 the spoor and made a detour. Spying a large ant- 

 hill on our right, we very stealthily made our way 

 towards it and from its summit, saw, to our joy, the 

 four elephants standing about a hundred yards 

 away. One of their number, an enormous bull, 

 with singularly long tusks, was standing a dozen 

 yards behind the others, looking back on the spoor, 

 as if awaiting his pursuers. Down we scrambled at 



