THE INDIAN ELEPHANT 41 



traces of the rogue. Presently they came racing 

 back in a great state of excitement, to say that 

 they had almost tumbled on top of an elephant 

 sleeping in some thick scrub a few yards off. 

 I could hardly credit this at first, but on going 

 to the spot there were the footprints of a huge 

 elephant, which had been lying down fast 

 asleep within twenty yards of us. The tracks 

 were at once recognised as those of the rogue, 

 and having, with great difficulty, got rid of my 

 following, I started with my two trackers and 

 my orderly to follow the trail. It was now about 

 10 a.m., and at 1 p.m. I halted for a couple of 

 hours, so as to come up with the beast in the 

 evening, when I hoped it would be feeding. We 

 got up to him at 4 p.m., and the first indication 

 I had of his whereabouts was a short rush in a 

 patch of thick scrub in front of me. I was 

 afraid I had again alarmed the beast, and that 

 he would go for miles, but he quickly dispelled 

 my doubts. Both trackers had taken to trees, 

 and I saw neither of them again until the ele- 

 phant was killed half an hour later. I had 

 entered the patch closely followed by the 

 orderly, and had covered, perhaps, two hundred 

 yards when, with a fiendish scream, the rogue 

 charged out at us from some dense cover on 

 my right. For some seconds I could distinguish 

 nothing but the bending foliage as the huge 

 brute tore his way through the thick cover, but 



