CHAP. XXIII. 
THE ELEPHANT-HUNT. 
235 
and waiting a more favourable opportunity of getting 
at them. When, however, His Eoyal Highness heard 
this he said, 4 Oh, no, a bird in the hand is worth 
two in the bush,’ and referred to Currie and myself. 
He and I then decided to take the matter in hand, and 
it was arranged that half-a-dozen of us were to creep 
down through the forest, along the face of the hill, un¬ 
til we got opposite to where the elephants were, and near 
the edge of the forest, and there get into a position to 
shoot one as they came towards us. In ordei to make 
them come on two men were to be despatched on horse¬ 
back along a ridge and so get beyond the elephants 
before disturbing them; and as the wind was blowing 
from that direction the elephants would scent them, 
and naturally come towards us. We were to have 
twenty minutes’ start, so as to be able to get into 
position before the horsemen started to alarm the 
elephants. 
Currie and I had the responsibility of the Prince’s 
life upon our hands, and we had agreed between our¬ 
selves before starting that we should propose to him to 
get into a monster tree. We found, however, as we got 
into the forest that all the trees had straight trunks, 
upwards of fifty or sixty feet high, without a branch of 
any sort, and that to climb any one was an impossibility. 
Besides this practical difficulty in the way of our design, 
some of the hunters had dogs with them, which, to pre- 
