THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 47 



side, and, aiming at what he thought would be 

 the direction of the head, he fired both barrels 

 at once. With a loud scream the elephant with- 

 drew its trunk, smashing the whole window at the 

 same time. He had reloaded and was looking 

 out for the elephant, in case it should return to 

 the attack, but could see nothing, as it was too 

 dark. F- -'s was a narrow escape, for had the 

 elephant succeeded in getting his trunk round one 

 of his legs nothing could have saved him. With 

 one jerk he would have been pulled through the 

 window and quickly done to death beneath the 

 huge feet of the brute. The thick folds of the 

 blanket alone saved him, and even that would 

 have been pulled aside in a little time if he had 

 not awakened and had the presence of mind to fire 

 at the beast. 



No amount of shouting would bring any of the 

 servants from their retreat in the out-office, 

 although we could distinctly hear them talking to 

 each other in low tones ; and it was scarcely fair 

 of us to ask them to come out, with the probability 

 of an infuriated rogue elephant being about. How- 

 ever, we soon remembered this fact, and helping 

 ourselves to whisky pegs, as the excitement had 

 made us thirsty, we determined to sit out the 

 darkness, as nothing could be done till morning. 



At the first break of day, we sallied out to learn 

 the effects of F- - 5 s shots. We could distinctly 

 trace the huge impressions of the elephant's feet 

 to the forest skirting the bungalow, but could find 

 no trace of blood. The Kuramba trackers were 



