our nature was,
I believe, excited. For my own part I only thought of how many
elephants I could kill. Another animal turned--I believe that he was
going to stand at bay or to charge--I fired, the bullet hit him, and
down he went. I was rushing up to him when Nowell shouted to me to
stop. Fortunately he did so, for up got the monster with a cry of fury,
and charged us. Nowell fired, and before the smoke had cleared away he
had ceased to struggle. Still there were many more elephants, but they
began to scatter. Nowell followed some to the right, while I, not
seeing that he had gone in that direction, went after some to the left.
They made up the mountain. I found that Dango was coming after me,
having handed Nowell's second rifle to one of the other men. Before us
appeared a large elephant and a little one not more than three and a
half feet in height. We very quickly caught them up, when the mother--
if mother she was--instead of protecting the young one, retreated up the
mountain towards a thick jungle near at hand, leaving it in our power.
Dango, with a spring, caught it by the tail, but so strong was it, that
it was dragging him towards the jungle, when it turned round its trunk,
and he then caught that also, and there he held it, shouting lustily for
me to come and help him, while the little elephant kept bellowing and
roaring louder than even the big ones. I hurried up and assisted in
dragging the poor little poonchy up to a tree, to which Dango, with some
of the flexible creepers which grew about, very quickly made it fast, at
the same time hobbling its feet so, that had it broken loose it could
not run away. Just as we had done, while roaring away as loudly as a
full-grown elephant, it gave me a blow with its trunk which very nearly
flattened my nose in a very disagreeable way. However, I felt that I
richly deserved the infliction, so did not retaliate.

All this time we fully expected to see the mother return to the
assistance of her charge, but still she kept away. We therefore retired
to a little distance behind some rocks to wait for her; but we were not
wholly concealed, and although little poonchy kept roaring on, she still
kept carefully within the cover. It was Dango's opinion, as it was
mine, that she was not the real mother of the little animal, but that
its own mother having been killed, it had gone to her for protection,
and that her own was somewhere with the herd. Indeed, we had seen