322 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



half way to our knees, witli slow and tiresome progress, when sud- 

 denly the old Jacoon ahead of us stopped, and with his parong 

 pointed through the forest. 



" There they are, boys ! " exclaimed Syers, in an excited whisper. 



A hundred yards away across the tangle of fallen trees and dead 

 branches we plainly saw the massive dark-gray forms of nine wild 

 elephants. They were standing in the water, leisurely browsing 

 upon the juicy aquatic plants that grew here and there, and wholly 

 unconscious of our presence. It was a fearful jDlace for an attack, 

 either upon them or by them. Greatly to our amusement our 

 brave Jacoons immediately swarmed up the nearest saplings, and 

 the other members of the pai'ty fell back in good order and con- 

 cealed themselves. 



As the reader is possibly aware, I had had trouble with ele- 

 phants before, but this was my friend Syers' first experience with 

 such colossal game. Like a true sportsman and green hand at 

 elephants, he was for attacking the herd instantly, before it took 

 alarm and ran away, and I had great difficulty in even partially re- 

 straining him. 



We quickly looked the herd over and saw that the only tusker 

 in it was a rather small one, with short tusks, but fortunately he 

 was the one nearest us. It seemed Hke an utter impossibility to 

 get near enough for a sure shot through that open swamp ; but, se- 

 lecting our line of attack, and keeping carefully behind the tree- 

 trunks as long as possible, we crouched low and stole forward. In 

 spite of our caution, a stick would snap every now and then, and 

 our feet make a noisy disturbance in the water. Mr. Syers, who was 

 eager and excited, took the lead, altogether too rapidly I thought, 

 and I followed, almost upon his heels. 



At last we reached a large tree at the foot of which was a bit of 

 bare ground. Syers stepped up on it and cocked both barrels of 

 his rifle. The elephant was in clear view forty yards away, but his 

 hind quarters were toward us and his head was hidden by the root 

 of an uptui'ned tree. Syers threw his rifle up to his cheek with a 

 look that meant business, and was glancing along the barrels for a 

 shot, when I gave him a dig in the ribs and hurriedly whispered : 



" Confound it, man, don't fire yet ! " 



" Why, I can hit him here well enough," he protested, in an 

 excited whisper. 



" But you couldn't possibly kill him. We must get up to that 

 root close by his head before we fire." 



