July,!, 1901.] THE TROPICAL AaRIOULTURIST. 
25 
WE STARTED 
alonf? a narrow foot-path through dense forest with 
a beastly matted undergrowth of bamboos which had 
fallen on the path in places, making' it most difficult 
to get along at anything like a couple of miles 
an hour. Tl»e heat had now become terrible. Owing 
to the labour of getting along in a stooping attitude, 
the perspiration was pouring out of us both, f 
vowed I could not go on another 20 yards but 
M kept on at the heels of Mutlusamy for fully 
half an hour after this without paying the least 
heed to my protestations. His locomotion at 
last seenietl to slow down, and finally stopped 
dead. Crawling up, 1 whispered "what is it?" "Look 
here," said he, "the finest tusker in Ceylon." "How 
do you know?" was ray reply. "Justlook at the shape 
of his foot, it's not round but long ; tuskers have 
feet always shaped different to common elephants," 
"What is to be your move now? Shall we sit down 
and have some refreshment or go on ? " Go on, of 
course," said he, and off he went and I after him as 
fast as my legs could carry me till I got hold of 
his coat tails to stop his fearful rate of locomo- 
tion, I said, "Better wait for the coolies with 
spare guns as we may stumble upon the rogue 
at any moment" as the spoor looked quite fresh 
and, besides, we were running great risk 
which M — did not seem to see at all. The guns 
arrived and I whispered to Raraasamy to keep 
close to my Ijeels with my 577 double ' express. 
Although I knew the least danger would send 
him flying up the nearest tree, my gun would be 
handy if pitched on the ground or stuck up 
against the nearest tree. I was carrying a Mar- 
tini sporting carbine, and M — had a double 12 
rifle, and a cooly carried his No. 8 bore. Mis 
son, a lad of about 18 years, was aimed with a 12 
bore rifle. 
We had not gone very far when a large open 
space with steamina elephant's dung was found- 
My heart throbbed against my side when 1 saw 
M — making a move and pointing in front of him, 
I could see notlung but jungle. Up went his hand 
pointing in another direction. Suddenly some 
HITGE FORMS 
caught my eye, great black objects like so many 
rocks. I moved nearer to the living monsters, 
to within 10 yards. I saw M — moving along 
the path in front of me, clutching his rifle evidently 
intent upon shooting something. My beasts began 
to shake their legs and ears about, and suddenly 
one wheeled about as if by magic on his own axis. 
My rifle was up and Bang ! Bang ! and slowly one 
sank to the ground never to rise again. Scream- 
ing, trumpeting, and swaying of trees in every 
direction went on for a minute, and all was still 
again, till the silence was broken by the ring of M's 
rifle. I heard a shout "Lookout, he's charging." 
I turned round to look for my 577. Of course 
Ramasamy was safely perched upon the top of the 
biggest tree in the neighbourhood. I ran along 
the path and picked up my rifle lyin? right in the 
middle of the road where the rogue was bound to 
pick it up and smash it to pieces. I just got 
hold of the weapon when "Shoot, Sandy, shoot! 
Somebody shoot ! " rang in my ears. Upon turn- 
ing round I saw Sandy (who was between me 
and his father) fire at the rogue (who was in full 
charge after his father) right over the old man's 
head, and on they came, father and son, pursued 
by the elephant. How I kept steady and waited 
till M— and his son ran past me, without 
running myself, I hardly know. However, there 
I stood, a few feet off the path till, M— 
was within ten yards of being seized by 
the beast's trunk, when [ fired and down went 
the rogue crushing the scrub like straw under 
hi m, killed by a small bullet instantaneously, 
M — looked back when he heard my shot, 
followed by the crash of the falling body, 
many tons in weight, which struck the earth all 
around. M— gasped, "is he dead ? look, he'll be up, 
his sides are moving, orive him another shot!" which 
I did, but not a move was in him except that 
described above. 
My remark to M— , when all the commotion was 
over, was, " I saved your life, then, old chap, for he 
nearly had you by the tail of your coat " " Oh no," 
said he, "I had my running legs on. ' I smiled, and 
he locked very angry, so I said nothing more but 
" come and let's drink to our good luck," and we 
did with good relish after cutting off the tail to 
make sure of this ever-coveted trophy. 
To stand still 
WHEN AN ELEPHANT CHARGES 
till he gets within 20 or 30 feet, and then clear 
out of his way is much safer than running, being 
pursued by the infuriated animal, as he is sure to 
catch any man either in the open or in jungle, 
forest or scrub, but when in full charge and the 
object of vengeance has disappeared froni the line 
of vision the beast goes on some distance, evidently 
unable to stop, and rarely returns : at least, that is 
my experience of a charging elephant- We re- 
turned to see my first bag and found a medium- 
sized bull with no ivory. When engaged ex- 
amining the head as to the direction of the bullet, 
crashing through the scrub came a youngster right 
on top of us, taking us all so much unawares that 
we fled in every direcuon, nobody thinking of any- 
thing but his own safety, although fc!m calf was 
only about 4 feet high. We wanted to shoot the 
little brute when we returned, but I proposed 
getting jungle ropes and tying him up, and tak- 
ing him home a prisoner; this we failed to do, 
however, as nobody could hold him secure enough 
to get him noosed ; the tail, trunk, and legs were 
all tried in vain, giving us fully three hours' grand 
sport ; till at last the little beast made off, dq- 
prived of his tail which Sandy cut clean off 
near the root. 
The cause of the trouble with the elephant which 
M — had fired at, and afterwards charged him, and 
I laid low, was in defence of her calf. We never 
saw the rogue elephant on this occasion, and 
were satisfied with the two we had bagged. 
M declared that the shot he fired was at my 
FIRST ELEPHANT, 
and not at the cow which charged him and 
became positively furious on the subject, setting 
to work with his coat off and shirt-sleeves 
turned-up to cut the head off, to find his bullet 
in proof ef his assertion ; the bullet was found 
buried about two feet in the head nearly escaping 
at the neck, and proved to be my 577 solid express. 
M — 's mouth dropped and his features changed 
and we retired to camp at the stream tor the night. 
Next morning large slabs of skin were cut 
from a carcase and the feet removed, the former 
to make a table, and the latter to be dressed as 
work-boxes, footstools, &c. 
M was a well-known Shikari, a splendid 
shot at all kinds of game, and as fearless and 
determined an elephant hunter as ever lived. It 
