THE FELINE AND CANINE TRIBES. 117 



The officers now lost all hopes of keeping their 

 elephant in order. He turned round abruptly, and 

 was going away quite ungovernable, when the lion 

 again sprang at him, seized his hinder parts with 

 his teeth, and hung on them until the affrighted 

 animal managed to shake him off by incessant 

 kicking. 



The lion retreated farther into the thicket ; Cap- 

 tain Woodhouse in the mean time firing a random 

 shot at him, which proved of no avails as the jolting 

 of the elephant and the uproar of the moment pre- 

 vented him from taking a steady aim. No exertions 

 on the part of the officers could now force the ter- 

 rified elephant to face his fierce foe, and they found 

 themselves reduced to the necessity of dismounting. 

 Determined, however, to come to still closer quar- 

 ters with the formidable king of quadrupeds, Capt. 

 Woodhouse took the desperate resolution to proceed 

 on foot in quest of him; and after searching about for 

 some time, he observed the lion indistinctly through 

 the bushes, and discharged his rifle at him ; but he 

 was pretty well convinced that he had not hit him, 

 for he saw the lion retire with the utmost composure 

 into the thicker parts of the brake. The two lieu- 

 tenants, who had remained at the outside of the 

 jungle, joined their companion on hearing the report 

 of his gun. 



The weather was intolerably sultrj^ After vainly 

 spending a considerable time in creeping through 

 the grass and bushes, with the hope of discovering 

 the place of the lion's retreat, they concluded that 

 he had passed quite through the jungle, and gone 

 I 3 



