of it; but we were not so much thrown out as I expected, for we arrived
in time to see the wild elephant charging and struggling in the midst of
her pursuers, who, after several attempts, finally succeeded in noosing
her, and dragging her away in triumph between two tame elephants, each
attached to the wild one by a rope, and pulling different ways whenever
she was inclined to be unmanageable. I was watching the struggles which
the huge beast made, and wondering how the young one, who was generally
almost under the mother, had escaped being crushed in the melee, when a
perfect roll of small arms turned our attention to another quarter, and I
saw an elephant with an imposing pair of tusks charging down upon us
through a square of soldiers, which had just been broken by it, and who
were now taking to the trees in all directions. I ought to remark, lest
the gallant riflemen should be under the imputation of want of valour in
this proceeding, that they were only allowed to fire blank cartridge. The
elephant next to me stood the brunt of the charge, which was pretty
severe, while mine created a diversion by butting him violently in the
side, and, being armed with a formidable pair of tusks, made a
considerable impression; the wild one was soon completely overpowered by
numbers, after throwing up his trunk and charging wildly in all
directions. Of the violence of one of these charges I have retained
visible proof, for a splintered tusk, which had been broken short off in
the combat, was afterwards picked up and given to me as a trophy. Having
succeeded in noosing this elephant also, we were dragging him away in the
usual manner between two others, when he snapped one of the ropes and
started off, pulling after him the elephant that still remained attached
to him, and dashed through the jungle at full speed, notwithstanding the
struggles of the involuntary companion of his flight. For a moment I
feared that the courage of the mahout would give way in that pell-mell
career, and that he would slip the rope which bound the two animals
together. But he held on manfully, and after another exciting chace we