CHAP. XXIII. 
THE ELEPHANT-HUNT. 
241 
wound had told against me ; and had it not been that I 
caught hold of the tail of a horse which Mr. Barrington 
(who arrived by chance on the spot) offered to His 
Royal Highness, I do not think I should ever have got 
to the top of the mountain. Our horses were, however, 
waiting for us there, and we mounted and got back to 
camp some time after dark. A capital dinner was 
awaiting us, which we enjoyed all the more from having 
had no lunch ; and after dinner we fought the battle 
over again while discussing the excellent cheer, and 
then adjourned to the camp-fire and smoked. 
It was arranged that Currie and the hunters were 
to go back the next day and follow up the wounded 
elephant, and that His Royal Highness and the rest of 
the party should have a day at the smaller game. Un¬ 
fortunately there was a great gale, and it poured with 
rain during the night and part of the next day; this 
did not, however, prevent Currie and the hunters from 
going to follow up the elephant, and they did not get 
back till late at night. They took up the ‘spoor’ or trace 
of the wounded elephants at the spot where we last saw 
them. It was easily traceable from the quantity of 
blood ; and after getting into the forest near where the 
first shots were fired in the morning a great pool of 
blood was found where the monster had been leaning 
against a tree, as if to support itself. The wounded 
elephant continued to circle in this forest, winding 
R 
