240 SIR VICTOR BROOKE'S TUSKER. 



It would be tedious, even were it possible, to describe all the details of the 

 long stern-chase which followed. After emerging from the thorny ravine 

 into wliich the elephant had disappeared, the tracks led over a series of 

 extensive open grassy glades, crossed the Mysore-Hassanoor road beyond 

 the seventh milestone, and then followed the deep sandy bed of a dry river 

 for a considerable distance. At length, wlien about nine weary miles had 

 been left behind us, we began to remark signs of the elephant having relaxed 

 a little in his direct onward flight. His tracks commenced to zigzag back- 

 wards and forwards in an undecided manner, and finally led down a steep 

 grassy slope into a densely-matted thorny jungle, bordering a small stream 

 at its foot. I was the first to arrive at the edge of the thicket, and without 

 waiting for my companions, who were out of sight, followed the tracks cau- 

 tiously into it. I soon found that it was almost impossible to track the ele- 

 phant any further. The entire thicket was traversed by a perfect labyrinth 

 of elephant-paths, and on each path were the more or less recent footprints 

 of elephants. Giving up the idea of tracking for the moment, I was on 

 the point of commencing a further exploration of the thicket, when a low 

 hiss attracted my attention, and looking round I saw the native who had 

 accompanied us beckoning to me and gesticulating in the most frantic 

 manner. Upon going to him he pointed eagerly in front of him, and 

 following the direction of his finger my eyes alighted, not upon the elephant 

 as I had expected, but upon Colonel Hamilton, who from behind the trunk 

 of a small tree was gazing intently towards the little stream which ran not 

 more than thirty yards from where he was standing. With the greatest 

 care I stole up to his side. ' There he is in front of you, standing in the 

 stream ; you had better take him at once or he will be off again,' were the 

 welcome words wliich greeted my ears. At the same moment my eyes were 

 gratified by the indistinct outline of the mighty bull, who, already suspicious 

 of danger, was standing perfectly motionless in the middle of the stream, 

 which was so narrow that the branches of the low bamboos on its banks 

 nearly met across it. The distance — twenty-seven yards — was too great for 

 certainty, but there was no choice, as even if the elephant had been utterly 

 unaware of our vicinity, the tangled, thorny nature of the dense jungle sur- 

 rounding him would have rendered it impossible to have approached nearer 

 without discovery. As it was, the perfect immobility of all save his eye, 

 and every now and again the quickly-altered position of his tattered ears, 

 showed undeniably that the chances of flight and battle were being weighed 

 in the massive head, and that there was no time to lose. Covering the orifice 

 of the ear with as much care as if the shot had been at an egg at a hundred 

 yards, I fired. A heavy crash and the sudden expulsion of the stream from 



