i86 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. 
any inch of his anatomy that I desired, especially as 
he seemed quite unconscious of my presence, and 
wholly occupied with my terrier. Whisky, quite 
undaunted and growling furiously, bounded up to 
the monster, and the little devil’s whole attitude 
seemed to convey a warning to the mountainous 
bulk beside him that there was little doubt in his 
mind as to who would get the worst of an encounter. 
The huge beast, with an elephant’s characteristic 
inquisitiveness, extended his trunk and began to 
sniff at my dog, who, no doubt, considering this an 
indignity not under any circumstances to be 
tolerated from a mere elephant, made a vicious 
snap at the latter’s investigating proboscis. Whether 
the elephant had in the first instance intended to 
grab the game little dog I don’t know, but consider¬ 
ing this act of Whisky’s an opening of hostilities, 
he simply seized his tiny antagonist and flung him 
some twenty yards into the jungle. Then, quietly 
turning round, as if expecting the audacious little 
dog to return, he moved slowly towards the long 
grass into which his opponent had incontinently 
vanished. 
I felt that it was now high time for me to take a 
hand in the unequal contest, but so interested had I 
been in the strange incidents of the past few minutes 
that I had let slip the chance of getting a good 
shot, and had to be satisfied with aiming a short 
