218 SECOND EXPEDITION AFTER THE ROGUE. 



pool in the jungles near Kakankot^, where they said we should be pretty- 

 sure of finding the rogue's tracks, as most other water-supplies were very 

 low, whilst at this one he could both drink and enjoy a pleasant mud-bath. 

 The morning was cold, with a raw fog. Our party consisted of six Kurra- 

 bas, my two gun-bearers, and myself Four Kurrabas were to track, and 

 the other two to bring the pony and luncheon-basket at some distance behind 

 us after we took up the trail. I left instructions for half-a-dozen men to 

 follow US later in the day with knives, axes, ropes, &c., and to wait at a cer- 

 tain place in the jungle, to be sent for in case we should bag the elephant. 

 Our path lay for a mile and a half along the main road. The miserable 

 Kurrabas preceded us, taking long pulls at the cheroots I had given them. 

 They kept the smoke in their mouths for some time, and then expelled it 

 slowly through their nostrils, so as to lose none of its flavour. Even along 

 the main road they moved with the quiet apprehensive air natural to all 

 jungle-men. 



We soon turned off into the forest. The cheroots were extinguished and 

 stuck behind their possessors' ears for future use, and when we reached the 

 pool the night's tracks were carefully examined. The rogue had drunk 

 there about three o'clock in the morning. In the vicinity of the pool was 

 a large patch of bulrushes and grass ten feet high. He had entered this, 

 and it was some time before the Kurrabas could carry the tracks through 

 to the other side. The difficulty of tracking in this high grass was very 

 great. It was not only dry and withered, and trodden into lanes by old 

 elephant-paths in all directions, but the elephant had passed through it 

 some hours before, and the fog and dew had since settled on all the paths 

 alike, and obliterated the indications of their respective dates. Elephants 

 have a great fancy for keeping to each other's old tracks, and when 

 aU are dry alike, or alike covered with dew, the wits of the best trackers 

 are tried to keep up the track at a sufficient pace to reach the game in 

 moderate time. There is great pleasure in watching the working out of a 

 difficult trail. Tlie man who sends out to have elephants found for him, and 

 then goes and shoots them, loses, in my opinion, much of the real pleasure 

 of this grandest of all sports. 



After leaving the long grass the trail led through easier country. 

 The elephant had pushed along at a good pace. Our great object was 

 to reach him before 10 a.m. Up to that time we might expect to find 

 him feeding in open forest, but later in the day he would be sure to be 

 in the thickest places, where the difficulty and danger of attacking him 

 would be increased. 



We carried the track through open forest, bamboo - covert, and long 



