238 
SPORT AND WAR. 
CHAP. XXIII. 
elephant to within a few yards of us. There was, how¬ 
ever, so much brushwood, and it was just there so high, 
that the Prince could not get a good shot at her. All 
those around His Royal Highness were holding their 
shots for him to fire first, when a hot-headed Irishman 
who was standing far behind the Prince and at some 
distance above fired ; and those who had reserved their 
shots, thinking that it was the Royal sportsman who 
had shot, no longer reserved their fire. In a moment 
a regular volley was poured into this elephant as she 
swerved away from us after the first shot. To me she 
seemed to disappear so suddenly that I thought she 
had fallen over in the underwood; such, however, was 
not the case. The sight we saw from this spot was one 
of the grandest I have ever looked on. The elephants 
on reaching the edge of the great forest had wheeled 
about and were charging the dogs one after the other. 
We could not approach them, as the brushwood grew 
gradually higher, and was very soon over our heads, 
and so thick and tangled that we could not force our 
way through it. Some of the elephants on our left 
front had young ones or calves by their side ; and as the 
dogs attacked these mostly, they were being defended 
by several big elephants. To see these monsters 
charge, with their great ears thrown forward and 
trumpeting as if the last day had come, whilst great 
trees went down before them as if they were rotten 
