CHAPTER X. 

 A TALE OF THREE ELEPHANTS. 



THE reader will be pretty well tired of stories of shooting 

 elephants ; but there is one which I must relate, though it 

 did not end up with the killing of a tusker. 



At certain times of the year the elephants are exceed- 

 ingly dangerous. When the wild fruit is ripe they come 

 down to the banks of the rivers, where it grows in greater 

 abundance than it does in the depths of the jungle. It 

 seems to have a peculiar effect upon them, and to arouse 

 their combativeness. I remember in particular an 

 instance of their malicious behaviour under these con- 

 ditions. 



It was on the Upper Kinabatangan, and I will relate 

 what occurred just as it was told to me by the natives 

 who gave me the story. 



Two natives wished to make a journey by a jungle 

 path. They were carrying some food and personal effects 

 in wallets which were strapped to their shoulders. 



Some natives who had lately travelled by the very same 

 path endeavoured to dissuade them, saying that a troop 

 of elephants frequented the tract of jungle which the path 

 traversed, and that the demeanour of the elephants was 

 so threatening as to render it advisable to make a detour 

 and thus avoid the danger of meeting them. 



The two natives, however, were in a hurry, and made 

 light of these warnings. 



