140 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 



steadiness and presence of mind can save his life. It is enough to 

 make any man shudder and turn pale to see an infuriated bear, 

 bison, tiger, or wild elephant rushing down upon him to tear him 

 in pieces or crush him to a jelly. Then the rifle must not miss fire 

 nor the bullet fail to do its work in time. The charge must be 

 stopped, or the hunter goes down. It is a very difficult matter to 

 kill an elephant when in the act of charging, but a well-planted 

 shot will turn him aside and make him glad to run away. 



On that particular day my gang and I tz-amj^ed about five hours 

 through a drizzling rain, and finally overtook a herd of elephants, 

 Avhich we found to our disappointment contained no tusker at all, 

 only females and young males. One of the females, however, had 

 a cute httle calf at her side, in which I soon became deeply inter- 

 ested. He was a cunning Uttle rascal, only about three feet high, 

 as demure and consequential as any pigmy could well be, and 

 hiding safely behind a large tree, I watched his movements for some 

 time. His hide was smooth, shiny, and of a dark brown color, al- 

 most black it seemed at first. He wandered all around his colossal 

 old mother who caressed him occasionally Avith her trunk, and oc- 

 casionally he stood directly under her body, swinging his little 

 trunk and tail from side to side just as naturally as the older 

 elephants. A wild elephant is never still a moment when awake, 

 swinging first one foot and then another, and both trunk and tail 

 almost constantly. I never saw a more demure and cute looking 

 animal than that absurd little elephant, and I fau-ly ached to steal 

 up and grab hold of his trunk, and have a tussle with him. 



I knew very weU that, like most wild animals, the female elephant 

 is very suspicious and dangerous when she has a young one to pro- 

 tect, but in watching that little calf for a good half-hoiu* at a dis- 

 tance of only forty paces, I must have grown rather careless. The 

 herd was huddled together in a thick clump of small trees, and 

 my men were hiding near me, waiting patiently for the sahib to see 

 all he wanted to see. At length the little baby elephant wandered 

 oflf to the other side of the herd from me, and I determined to 

 work round to that side also. Immediately around the clump of 

 trees which sheltered the elephants, the ground was level and the 

 cover very thin indeed. I saw that to reach the other side of the 

 herd I would have to cross a small patch of open ground ; but I 

 thought the elephants would not notice me if I crouched low and 

 went very slowly. Moving back a few paces I started to make the 

 circuit, crouching almost to the ground, but keeping a cai-eful eye 



