68 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA VS 
CHAP. 
immediately fired, although the elephant was so un¬ 
steady that I could not be sure of the shot; also the 
object was so indistinct, being concealed in the high 
reeds, that I should not have observed it upon any 
other occasion than our rigid search. Immediately 
afterwards, a shout from one of the mahouts upon a 
scouting elephant informed us that the tiger had 
crossed the path and had gone forward, having thus 
escaped from the beat! 
Here was fresh work cut out! Up to this 
moment we had managed to keep him within an 
area of a quarter of a mile in length, by half a mile 
in width ; he had now got into new ground, and was 
in about a three-quarter mile length of the same un¬ 
beaten jungle. 
There was nothing else to do but to pursue the 
same tactics, and we patiently continued to beat for¬ 
ward and backward, again and again, but without 
once sighting our lost game. It was half-past 
twelve, and the sun was burning hot, the sky being 
cloudless. The elephants once more emerged from 
the sultry jungle; they were blowing spray with 
their trunks upon their flanks, from water sucked 
up from their stomachs ; and the mahouts were all 
down-hearted and in despair. “It’s of no use,” they 
said, “ he’s gone straight away, who can tell where ? 
When you fired, perhaps you wounded him, or you 
missed him ; at any rate, he’s frightened and gone 
clean off, we shall never see him again; the 
elephants are all tired with the extreme heat, and 
we had better go to the river for a bath.” 
