66 The Life of an Elephant 



man or beast, even the columns of smoke which 

 for weeks had marked the position of the passes 

 into the valley were no longer visible ; the 

 forest was wrapped in silence. Suddenly, fired 

 from far away, the report of a gun echoed 

 through the hills, and simultaneously a roar of 

 sound arose, shouts, beating of drums and firing 

 of guns, as some hundreds of men descended 

 from the hillsides and converged on the pass 

 leading out of the valley. 

 The elephants gathered in 

 a body and followed the 

 old female, who at once 

 took command ; they 

 moved slowly in front of 

 the gathering crowd, at first not doubting that 

 it might be avoided ; then, as the circle con- 

 stricted, they suddenly realized that they were 

 being driven, and, with the instinct of all wild 

 animals, endeavoured to make a way of escape 

 to one side. They pushed up the slopes of 

 the hill at a quick walk, trunks waving and 

 tails whipping from side to side, and were 

 suddenly confronted with a volley of blank 



