240 
SPOET AND WAE. 
chap, xxiii. 
were walking quietly on the opposite bank, at about 
eighty yards’ distance. The first shot was a shell, which 
was seen to strike the elephant just behind the shoulder, 
and smoke was actually seen to come out of the small 
hole from the exploded shell. The elephant fell on 
to his knees and trumpeted a fearful blast; this it 
repeated on the second shot, which also hit. A good 
many of the people had joined us by this time, and 
after the Prince’s two shots at least forty other shots 
must have been fired at the elephants. Besides the 
four large ones there was a pretty calf at the side of its 
mother. No elephant was brought to the ground, but 
they struggled on into the small forest. I was very 
near being shot myself, for in the excitement of firing 
one young fellow from behind fired so close to my head 
that he blew my hat off, but did no further damage. 
By this time it was getting late in the afternoon, 
and the dogs were so tired that when they were set on 
to follow the wounded elephant they would not budge 
an inch. We had also to get back to our horses on the 
top of the mountain, and then to ride some six or eight 
miles to the camp ; it was, therefore, decided that we 
should leave the wounded elephant until the next day. 
The climb back through the scrub and up the face 
of the steep mountain was about the most fatiguing 
thing I have ever experienced. The Prince was as 
fresh as a kitten, but I confess I was done—the old 
