FOOTNOTES:
[3] He died in 1913, since this was written.
[4] A platform erected in a tree at a height above the ground.
CHAPTER VII
A FIGHT WITH AN ELEPHANT
We sight a rogue—A sudden onslaught—A wild elephant's attack—Shooting under difficulties—Stopping a rush—Repeated attacks—An invulnerable foe—Darkness stops the pursuit—A council of war—Picking up the trail—A muckna—A female elephant—Photographing a lady—A good sitter—A stampede—A gallant Rajput—Attacking on foot—A hazardous feat—A narrow escape—Final charge—A bivouac in the forest—Dangers of the night—A long chase—Planter hospitality—Another stampede—A career of crime—Eternal hope—A king-cobra—Abandoning the pursuit—An unrepentant villain—In the moment of danger.
Khartoum stepped along at her usual deliberate pace through the jungle, occasionally raising her trunk to sweep the leaves off a branch and cram them into her mouth, or plucking a tuft of long grass to brush away the troublesome flies. On her neck the mahout swayed to the motion, while I sat nursing my heavy ·470 cordite rifle and talking to my orderly, Draj Khan, seated behind me on the pad. He carried a ·303 carbine. We were passing through a patch of thin forest bare of undergrowth, when Bechan pulled up suddenly and whispered:
"Jungli hathi! (A wild elephant)."
About sixty yards ahead a large tusker was standing apparently half asleep under the trees, its right side towards us. I wondered if, since it was alone, I could consider it an outlaw which it would be justifiable to shoot. The probabilities were, as there were no signs of a herd in the vicinity, that it was a rogue. While I was mentally debating the question I slipped a couple of solid cartridges into my rifle. As I did so the elephant turned its head slowly and I saw that it had only one tusk.