The aggageers now halted for about a
minute to confer together, and then followed in their original
order up the crumbled bank. We were now on most unfavourable
ground; the fire that had cleared the country we had hitherto
traversed had been stopped by the bed of the torrent. We were
thus plunged at once into withered grass above our heads, unless
we stood in the stirrups; the ground was strewed with fragments
of rock, and altogether it was ill-adapted for riding. However,
Taher Sheriff broke into a trot, followed by the entire party, as
the elephant was not in sight. We ascended a hill, and when near
the summit, we perceived the elephant about eighty yards ahead.
It was looking behind during its retreat, by swinging its huge
head from side to side, and upon seeing us approach, it turned
suddenly round and halted. "Be ready, and take care of the
rocks!" said Taher Sheriff, as I rode forward by his side. Hardly
had he uttered these words of caution, when the bull gave a
vicious jerk with its head, and with a shrill scream it charged
down upon us with the greatest fury. Away we all went, helter
skelter, through the dry grass, which whistled in my ears, over
the hidden rocks, at full gallop, with the elephant tearing after
us for about a hundred and eighty yards at a tremendous pace.
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