270 THE HUNTING GROUNDS 



renewed vigour. The roar of water sounded in our 

 ears from the direction towards which the trail was 

 leading us, and after a short time we came to a for- 

 midable torrent, which, freshened by recent rains on 

 the mountains, came tumbling down its rocky bed 

 in a succession of foaming cataracts. 



To my surprise, I found from the spoor that the 

 herd had crossed, although by what means was not 

 evident either to myself or any of the gang, as the 

 stream,was extremely rapid and appeared too deep 

 to be forded. Here and there, amons: the boiling 

 frothing eddies, broken rocks of greenish hue were 

 seen above the surface, but they were only the crests 

 of large boulders, and between them the stream ran 

 dark and rapidly. How the young elephants, of 

 which there were several in the herd, had managed 

 to get over I could not imagine, as no swimmer, 

 however strong, could have stemmed the torrent for 

 a moment ; he must have been swept down and 

 (lashed to pieces against the rocks. 



At last I bethought me that perhaps the " fresh " 

 had come down only lately, and that the herd had 

 crossed before the torrent became so swollen, and by 

 placing sticks by the edge of the. stream I found my 

 opinion was correct, and that the volume of water 

 was still increasing. This was certainly not satis- 

 factory, to say the least of it, but " Never say die " 

 was ever my motto, and we knew the elephants 

 were on the other side, and that if we intended to 

 be amongst them, we must go too. How ? was the 



