chap, vii.] TRACK THE WOUNDED ELEPHANT . 269 
two mounted gun-bearers and five others on foot I had 
been entirely deserted through the cowardice of my 
men. The elephant that I had left as dying, was gone. 
One of the Latookas had followed upon his tracks, 
and we heard this fellow shouting in the distance. 
I soon overtook him, and he led rapidly upon the 
track through thick bushes and high grass. In about 
a quarter of an hour we came up with the elephant; 
he was standing in bush, facing us at about fifty yards’ 
distance, and immediately perceiving us, he gave a 
saucy jerk with his head, and charged most deter¬ 
minedly. It was exceedingly difficult to escape, owing 
to the bushes which impeded the horse, while the 
elephant crushed them like cobwebs: however, by 
turning my horse sharp round a tree, I managed to 
evade him after a chase of about a hundred and fifty 
yards. Disappearing in the jungle after his charge, I 
immediately followed him. The ground was hard, and 
so trodden by elephants that it was difficult to single 
out the track. There was no blood upon the ground, 
but only on the trees every now and then, where he 
had rubbed past them in his retreat. After nearly 
two hours passed in slowly following upon his path, 
we suddenly broke cover and saw him travelling very 
quietly through an extensive plain of high grass. The 
ground was gently inclining upwards on either side 
