chap, xxiii. THE ELEPHANT-HUNT. 245 
bush we found ourselves in a tangled mass of under¬ 
wood, through which it was almost impossible to force 
ourselves; we did, however, manage to proceed some 
distance before we apprehended our danger. His 
Royal Highness was, as it were, in the care of Currie 
and myself, and we felt sure that directly the elephant 
was aware of our approach he would at once charge, 
and from the tangled nature of the underwood it would 
be quite impossible either to shoot him or to get out of 
the way. Whilst we halted to consult on this subject, 
we could actually hear the rumbling of the great beast’s 
inside without being able to see him. We therefore 
decided to take the Prince back to the open and inter¬ 
cept the elephant whilst being driven from the small 
forest, where he was, to the big one, for which he was 
sure to make. After getting outside of the forest 
we mounted our horses and took up a position across 
the valley dividing the two forests, leaving the horses 
standing just below us. Notice was sent at the same 
time to the hunters on the other side to let loose the 
dogs and drive the elephant towards us. The moment 
the dogs got to the elephant the same strange scene 
occurred that we had observed on the first day’s hunt: 
the elephant became violently enraged, charged the 
dogs in all directions, and you saw great forest-trees 
going down before his rushes. The monster would, 
however, on no account leave his retreat, but appeared 
