ch. x] “THE EARTH-SHAKING BEAST” 253 
tree, indicated by signs that the elephant were not far 
off; and his companions wished to lead us round to 
where the cover was a little lower and thinner. But to 
do so would have given them our wind, and Cuning- 
hame refused, taking into his own hands the manage¬ 
ment of the stalk. I kept my heavy rifle at the ready, 
and on we went, in watchful silence, prepared at any 
moment for a charge. We could not tell at what 
second we might catch our first glimpse at very close 
quarters of “ the beast that hath between his eyes the 
serpent for a hand,” and when thus surprised the temper 
of “ the huge earth-shaking beast ” is sometimes of the 
shortest. 
Cuninghame and Tarlton stopped for a moment to 
consult; Cuninghame stooped, and Tarlton mounted his 
shoulders and stood upright, steadying himself by my 
hand. Down he came and told us that he had seen a 
small tree shake seventy yards distant; although upright 
on Cuninghame’s shoulders, he could not see the 
elephant itself. Forward we stole for a few yards, and 
then a piece of good luck befell us, for we came on the 
trunk of a great fallen tree, and, scrambling up, we 
found ourselves perched in a row six feet above the 
ground. The highest part of the trunk was near the 
root, farthest from where the elephants were ; and, 
though it offered precarious footing, it also offered the 
best lookout. There I balanced, and, looking over the 
heads of my companions, I at once made out the 
elephant. At first I could see nothing but the shaking 
branches, and one huge ear occasionally flapping. Then 
I made out the ear of another beast, and then the trunk 
of a third was uncurled, lifted, and curled again ; it 
showered its back with earth. The watcher we had left 
behind in the tree-top coughed ; the elephants stood 
