116 BIG-GAME SHOOTING IN UPPER BURMA 



blood. Tracking very slowly and cautiously, 

 after about half a mile I saw him standing in 

 bamboo cover, with only his flank exposed. 

 I did not dare to work round for a raking shot, 

 but aimed carefully at his exposed quarters 

 and fired a solid nickel. The bull dashed off 

 at the shot, and we could hear him in the 

 distance thundering through the undergrowth. 

 It was now nine o'clock, and after giving him 

 another quarter of an hour we resumed the 

 trail in the same order as before. At 12.30 we 

 were no nearer to him, so, as we were all feeling 

 the need for something to eat, we sat down and 

 had breakfast. At a quarter to one we took 

 on the trail again, which now led into very 

 thick cover, so dense that we could see neither 

 to right nor left, and only a yard or two in 

 front of us. As we crept along, bent double, 

 I expected every moment to hear a rush on our 

 flank, and to see the brute thundering down on 

 us from a few yards' distance. But presently, 

 to my relief, the trail left the cover and led 

 through more open country. Here we found 

 the bull had lain down, but he must have heard 

 us moving through the thick stuff and gone on. 

 There was no blood now; the little there had 

 been had apparently ceased to flow. At inter- 

 vals we kept meeting the tracks of the herd, 

 which had followed the bull. Every now and 

 then he would turn off in a fresh direction, 



