A MEMORABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 205 



the firea In the small hours of the morning, when all was still, 

 Channa quietly awakened me with the whispered words, " Naree, 

 sahib ! " In another moment I heard the low, deep growling of a 

 tiger in the thick jungle near us, the second time I ever heard that 

 sound in the forest. It was repeated at intervals, in the same half- 

 angiy, menacing tone in which a cat warns an intruder away from 

 its prey. I felt that there was Uttle danger of the tiger falling foul 

 of us, because in the first place I knew he could not be a man-eater, 

 and it was evident that he had been attracted to the spot by the 

 scent of warm blood and the flesh of the elephant. He evidently 

 recognized the fact that possession is nine points in law, and ad- 

 mitted the superiority of our claims by keeping away ; but the 

 next day we found his pugs, and saw where he had made his lair 

 and lain him down to sleep within seventy yards of our camp. 



The next morning we went at the carcass almost as soon as it 

 was light enough to see. We first cut out the enti-ails and vital 

 organs, and with indescribable difiiculty dragged the unwieldy 

 mass a short distance down the hill. That done, we cut off a quan- 

 tity of flesh from the breast and pelvis, then went to work with a 

 series of levers, props, and ropes attached to the two remaining 

 legs, and after about two hours' hard work, we succeeded in rolling 

 the carcass completely over, with the head still on. One member 

 of my gang, Corlee, had stayed at camp playing sick, so there 

 were only five of us to manage that elephant. After rolling the 

 body over, which we considered quite a feat of engineering skill, 

 we soon removed the second half of the skin and partly skinned 

 the legs. That done, we spread out the two sides of the skin, in- 

 side uppermost, covered them with green boughs so that the sun 

 should not shine full upon them, and leaving the head as it was, 

 started for Sungam about 2 p.m. 



Just as we were starting, a misfortune overtook me. In picking 

 up our traps Vera stepped upon a sharp knife that had been 

 dropped in a pile of green leaves. The Mulcers are always bare- 

 footed, and the keen blade made an ugly gash in Vera's foot, sever- 

 ing a small vein which bled profusely. Being provided for all such 

 shght emergencies, I at once took two stitches in the cut, applied 

 court-plaster and cotton, bound it up, and we started for camp, 

 cutting a path through the jungle as we went along. As I feared, 

 the exertion made Vera's wound bleed profusely in spite of all I 

 could do, but he insisted upon going on. 



"When within about two miles of camp we crossed a small rocky 



