LAST CHARGE.
two mounted gun-bearers and five others on foot I had
been entirely deserted through the cowardice of my
men. The elephant that I had left as dying, was gone.
One of the Latookas had followed upon his tracks,
and we heard this fellow shouting in the distance.
I soon overtook him, and he led rapidly upon the
track through thick bushes and high grass. In about
a quarter of an hour we came up with the elephant;
he was standing in bush, facing us at about fifty yards’
distance, and immediately perceiving us, he gave a
saucy jerk with his head, and charged most determinedly.
It was exceedingly difficult to escape, owing
to the bushes which impeded the horse, while the
elephant crushed them like cobwebs: however, by
turning my horse sharp round a tree, I managed to
evade him after a chase of about a hundred and fifty
yards. Disappearing in the jungle after his charge, I
immediately followed him. The ground was hard, and
so trodden by elephants that it was difficult to single
out the track. There was no blood upon the ground,
but only on the trees every now and then, where he
had rubbed past them in his retreat. After nearly
two hours passed in slowly following upon his path,
we suddenly broke cover and saw him travelling very
quietly through an extensive plain of high grass. The
ground was gently inclining upwards on either side