i86 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



any inch of his anatomy that I desired, especially as 

 he seemed quite unconscious of my presence, and 

 wholly occupied with my terrier. Whisky, quite 

 undaunted and growling furiously, bounded up to 

 the monster, and the little devil's whole attitude 

 seemed to convey a warning to the mountainous 

 bulk beside him that there was little doubt in his 

 mind as to who would get the worst of an encounter. 

 The huge beast, with an elephant's characteristic 

 inquisitiveness, extended his trunk and began to 

 sniff at my dog, who, no doubt, considering this an 

 indignity not under any circumstances to be 

 tolerated from a mere elephant, made a vicious 

 snap at the latter's investigating proboscis. Whether 

 the elephant had in the first instance intended to 

 grab the game little dog I don't know, but consider- 

 ing this act of Whisky's an opening of hostilities, 

 he simply seized his tiny antagonist and flung him 

 some twenty yards into the jungle. Then, quietly 

 turning round, as if expecting the audacious little 

 dog to return, he moved slowly towards the long 

 grass into which his opponent had incontinently 

 vanished. 



I felt that it was now high time for me to take a 

 hand in the unequal contest, but so interested had I 

 been in the strange incidents of the past few minutes 

 that I had let slip the chance of getting a good 

 shot, and had to be satisfied with aiming a short 



