324 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



cal vertebrae, and feet — quite enough of that sort of thing in that 

 pestilential swamp. We carried home all except the skull, which 

 we left to be brought out the next day by a party of Malay's. 



We reached home thoroughly tired, hungry, and bedraggled, 

 but Jules Mumm and Cat's Face came to our rescue, and as Syers 

 and I sat on the slatted floor and banqueted from the top of our 

 camp chest we ran the chase all over again. 



The next day the elephant's skull was carried out of the jungle, 

 and I stayed at home to clean it carefully with knife and scraper, 

 while Mr. Syers went off on an unsuccessful hunt after wild cattle. 



The day following that we had another go at elephants. We 

 overtook a herd, and attacked it in thick cover, bareheaded, in a 

 pouring rain which half blinded us. The only tusker in the herd 

 was small and young, and I was for letting him go, but my eager 

 companion insisted that elephants were a nuisance in Selangore, 

 and ought to be killed off for that reason if no other. We fired at 

 the young tusker, but failed to bring him down, and the herd made 

 off very deliberately. They thought our firing was thunder, or at 

 least a part of the storm. I was willing to let them go, but Syers 

 voted to follow them up, so I assented with every appearance of 

 satisfaction. For three mortal hours we went at our best speed 

 along that trail, through mud and water a foot deep, through bog 

 and brake, over fallen trees, and through thickets of thorny palms, 

 until finally, when quite tired out, we came up to the elephants in 

 the densest of cover. 



As we were advancing promptly to the attack, across a bit of 

 open ground with the herd on our left, we heard a sudden crashing 

 in the bushes on our right, and in another instant saw a young 

 seven-foot elephant coming full tilt, straight toward us, and not 

 twenty yards away. I thought, " Merciful heavens ! The beast is 

 charging us ! " and we instantly threw up our guns to fire. I took 

 a quick aim at his forehead, and was in the act of j^ressing the 

 trigger, when the elephant, then within twenty feet of us, suddenly 

 sheered off at a right angle to his former course, and fairly humped 

 himself to get safely away. He went at a splendid gait, directly 

 away from us. 



" All right, my young friend, its a bargain ! " thought I, thank- 

 fully. " You let me alone and I'll do the same by " bang ! went 



Syers' rifle, with an infernal roar just beside my ear, aimed at the 

 fast retreating elephant. Had he shot him in the hind quarter ? 

 The animal gave a shrill little scream, humped his back still higher, 



