Their heads and backs were
just discernible above the grass, as we looked over them from some
rising ground at about seventy yards distance. Three more elephants were
among the rocks, browsing upon the long grass.
We now heard unmistakable sounds of a large number of elephants in the
jungle below us, from which the seven elephants in the hollow had only
just emerged, and we quietly waited for the appearance of the whole
herd, this being their usual feeding-time.
One by one they majestically stalked from the jungle. We were
speculating on the probable number of this large herd, when one of them
suddenly winded us, and, with magical quickness, they all wheeled round
and rushed back into the jungle.
Calling upon my little troop of gun-bearers to keep close up, away we
dashed after them at full speed; down the steep hollow and through the
high lemon grass, now trampled into lanes by the retreating elephants.
In one instant the jungle seemed alive; there were upwards of fifty
elephants in the herd. The trumpets rang through the forest, the young
trees and underwood crashed in all directions with an overpowering
noise, as this mighty herd, bearing everything before it, crashed in one
united troop through the jungle.
At the extreme end of the grassy hollow there was a snug corner formed
by an angle in the jungle.
