172 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



a number sufficient for the burnt and open jungle to be 

 beaten, and I hoped that we might encounter a tiger or rhi- 

 noceros that day ; but a diligent search of four or five hours 

 resulted in our seeing nothing but deer, at which no shots 

 were fired, till we turned our faces towards camp at high 

 noon. 



We were not far from the backwater, and were passing 

 in line through some exceedingly tall scorched reeds, when I 

 flushed a woodcock, which fell at once to my gun, and was 

 secured. The prize was so rare in the plains that I moved 

 towards the General to show him what I had shot, and after 

 a brief interchange of sentiments on this remarkable inci- 

 dent, we moved on side by side ; he in his " howdah," on a 

 very large male elephant, and I on a pad upon a small female. 

 In this manner we proceeded some distance, still through 

 black and crackling reeds, when suddenly there rose before 

 us, sprung seemingly out of the ground, a very fine bull with 

 magnificent horns, which made off at score, receiving in his 

 stern two or three shots fired at rather a long range. The 

 bull was probably the last of a herd which had gone ahead, 

 as evidenced by the numerous fresh foot-prints upon the ashes, 

 leading directly away from us. Drops of blood and his plain 

 spoor made pursuit an easy task, till we gained some dense 

 green covert, into which he had plunged, and in which 

 I had no doubt that he stood concealed awaiting our ap- 

 proach. 



Having passed into this jungle a little way, we found the 

 bull's tracks less distinct as they became mixed up with those 

 of the herd which had preceded him ; the grass, too, now grew 

 thicker and greener. Accordingly my companion told his 

 orderly to dismount from the " khawas " behind him, and to 

 take up the trail, which he did most readily. The soldier 

 was a Ghoorka, well up to the work in hand, and he followed 

 the track, moving slowly in front of the huge elephant, and 

 only a yard or two ahead of it. At this point I advised the 

 General to take up the man again, as he ran a great risk of 

 being seriously hurt by a sudden charge ; but this was not 



