alike exhausted, when we suddenly once more heard the wh-r-r-r of the
elephants winding us within a hundred yards. It was our last chance, and
with redoubled speed we rushed after them.

Suddenly we broke from the high jungle in which we had been for the last
two hours, and found ourselves in a chena jungle of two years' growth,
about five feet high, but so thick and thorny that it resembled one vast
blackthorn hedge, through which no man could move except in the track of
the retreating elephants.

To my delight, on entering this low jungle, I saw the female at about
forty yards' distance, making off at a great pace. I had a light
double-barrelled gun in my hand, and, in the hopes of checking her pace,
I fired a flying shot at her ear. She had been hunted so long that she
was well inclined to fight, and she immediately slackened her speed so
much that in a few instants I was at her tail, so close that I could
have slapped her. Still she ploughed her way through the thick thorns,
and not being able to pass her owing to the barrier of jungle, I could
only follow close at her heels and take my chance of a shot. At length,
losing all patience, I fired my remaining barrel under her tail, giving
it an upward direction in the hope of disabling her spine.

A cloud of smoke hung over me for a second, and, throwing my empty gun
on one side, I put my hand behind me for a spare rifle. I felt the
welcome barrel pushed into my hand at the same moment that I saw the
infuriated head of the elephant with ears cocked charging through the
smoke! It was the work of an instant. I had just time to cock the
two-ounce rifle and take a steady aim. The next moment we were in a
cloud of smoke, but as I fired, I felt certain of her. The smoke cleared
from the thick bushes, and she lay dead at SIX FEET from the spot where