xxx A FEW THRILLS AT BANGALLA RIVER 265 
amazing luxuriance of the vegetation hid them from 
us as completely as if they had been separated from 
us by a stone-wall, rendering tracking a painfully 
slow and dangerous operation. To add to the ex¬ 
citement, a thunderstorm now broke over our heads, 
flash after flash of vivid lightning illuminating the 
impenetrable tangle of the jungle in a devilish glare, 
followed by crash after crash of thunder. Down 
came the rain in a deluge, hissing and splashing 
and pattering among the foliage, soaking us to the 
skin and chilling us to the marrow, while, in the 
intervals between the ear-splitting peals, we could 
hear the elephants moving about in the bush as if 
they were the presiding spirits of this forest inferno. 
Then, as swiftly as it had approached, the storm 
moved away ; the lightning grew more and more 
intermittent, the growls of the thunder more and more 
subdued. As evening was fast approaching, I now 
told my men that I intended to tackle the quarry, 
but that, if they again cleared, we should pass the 
night where we were, and take up the spoor in the 
morning. Their limbs shaking, their teeth chattering 
with cold, owing to the drenching they had received, 
and tired out into the bargain, my trackers clearly 
showed that they did not hail this decision with 
acclamation. Being a trifle out of temper, I snatched 
up my double *577, and telling them that they were 
useless to me and had better stay behind and nurse 
