THE INDIAN ELEPHANT 43 



a bit of his own back and something over. I told 

 Allah Din that if he would do the tracking I would 

 follow at his heels, keeping a sharp look-out. He 

 was quite game, in fact, too much so, as he wanted 

 to run after the elephant. He was an impetuous 

 chap, and later was caught by an elephant when 

 out with me, as already narrated, and nearly 

 killed, owing to suddenly losing his head during a 

 stampede, and trying to run. On. the present 

 occasion he would go too fast, and I had to be 

 constantly whispering to him to take his time. 

 After going some three hundred yards or so he 

 stopped suddenly and held up his hand. We 

 had just got out of an abominably thick bit of 

 stuff and were about to enter another. Listen- 

 ing intently, I could now hear the elephant 

 ahead of us kicking up clods of earth, a sure 

 sign that he was badly wounded and bent on 

 mischief. At this moment, inadvertently, I trod 

 on a dry twig, which snapped with a slight 

 crackle. There was a shrill scream from the 

 elephant, and out he came. The orderly dodged 

 aside, caught his foot in a creeper, and lay 

 sprawling directly in front of the charging 

 elephant. Lucky for us it was that we were 

 almost in the open. As the beast emerged 

 from the dense cover I gave him a bullet in 

 about the same spot as before, viz. the base of 

 the trunk low down. He rolled over to the 

 shot like a rabbit, and as the smoke cleared 



E 2 



