There is only
one way to kill them with any certainty. Two persons, at most, to
attack; each person to be accompanied by only one gunbearer, who should
carry two spare guns. One good tracker should lead this party of five
people in single file. With great caution and silence, being well to
leeward of the elephants, he can thus generally be approached till
within twelve paces, and he is then killed by one shot before he knows
that danger is near. What with our gun-bearers, trackers, watchers and
ourselves, we were a party of sixteen persons; it was therefore
impossible to get near a rogue unperceived.
On the way to the tent I got a shot at a deer at full gallop on 'old
Jack.' It was a doe, who bounded over the plain at a speed that soon
out-distanced my horse, and I took a flying shot from the saddle with
one of my No. 10 rifles. I did not get the deer, although she was badly
wounded, as we followed the blood-tracks for some distance through thick
jungle without success.
This was altogether a blank day; and having thoroughly disturbed this
part of the 'Park,' we determined to up stick and move our quarters on
the following day towards the 'Cave,' according to the plan that we had
agreed upon for beating the country.
