xxx A FEW THRILLS AT BANGALLA RIVER 265 



amazing luxuriance of the vegetation hid them from 

 us as completely as if they had been separated from 

 us by a stone-wall, rendering tracking a painfully 

 slow and dangerous operation. To add to the ex- 

 citement, a thunderstorm now broke over our heads, 

 flash after flash of vivid lightning illuminating the 

 impenetrable tangle of the jungle in a devilish glare, 

 followed by crash after crash of thunder. Down 

 came the rain in a deluge, hissing and splashing 

 and pattering among the foliage, soaking us to the 

 skin and chilling us to the marrow, while, in the 

 intervals between the ear-splitting peals, we could 

 hear the elephants moving about in the bush as if 

 they were the presiding spirits of this forest inferno. 

 Then, as swiftly as it had approached, the storm 

 moved away ; the lightning grew more and more 

 intermittent, the growls of the thunder more and more 

 subdued. As evening was fast approaching, I now 

 told my men that I intended to tackle the quarry, 

 but that, if they again cleared, we should pass the 

 night where we were, and take up the spoor in the 

 morning. Their limbs shaking, their teeth chattering 

 with cold, owing to the drenching they had received, 

 and tired out into the bargain, my trackers clearly 

 showed that they did not hail this decision with 

 acclamation. Being a trifle out of temper, I snatched 

 up my double '577, and telling them that they were 

 useless to me and had better stay behind and nurse 



