They had heard the wounded elephant crushing
through the jungle, and they had given him a volley just as he was
crossing the river over which the herd had escaped in the morning. They
described the elephant as perfectly helpless from his wound, and they
imagined that he had fallen in the thick bushes on the opposite bank of
the river. As I before mentioned, we could not cross the river on
account of the torrent, but in a few days it subsided, and the elephant
was found lying dead in the spot where they supposed he had fallen.
Thus happily ended the destruction of this notable pair; they had proved
themselves all that we had heard of them, and by their cunning dodge of
hiding in the thick jungle they had nearly made sure of us. We had
killed three rogues that morning, and we returned to our quarters well
satisfied.
Since that period I have somewhat thinned the number of rogues in this
neighbourhood. I had a careful and almost certain plan of shooting them.
Quite alone, with the exception of two faithful gun-bearers, I used to
wait at the edge of the jungle at their feeding time, and watch their
exit from the forest. The most cautious stalking then generally enabled
me to get a fatal shot before my presence was discovered. This is the
proper way to succeed with rogue elephants, although of course it is
attended with considerable danger. I was once very nearly caught near
this spot, where the elephants are always particularly savage. The lake
was then much diminished in size by dry weather, and the water had
retired for about a hundred yards from the edge of the forest, leaving a
deep bed of mud covered with slime and decayed vegetable matter. This
slime had hardened in the sun and formed a cake over the soft mud
beneath. Upon this treacherous surface a man could walk with great care.
Should the thin covering break through, he would be immediately
waist-deep in the soft mud. To plod through this was the elephant's
delight. Smearing a thick coat of the black mud over their whole bodies,
they formed a defensive armour against the attacks of mosquitoes, which
are the greatest torments that an elephant has to contend with.
I was watching the edge of the forest one afternoon at about four
o'clock, when I noticed the massive form of one of these tank rogues
stalk majestically from the jungle and proceed through the deep mud
towards the lake. I had the wind, and I commenced stalking him.
Advancing with my two gun-bearers in single file, I crept carefully from
tree to tree along the edge of the forest for about a quarter of a mile,
until I arrived at the very spot at which he had made his exit from the
jungle.
