proached the water's edge the weaker the coating of slime
became, not having been exposed for so long a time to the sun as that at
a greater distance.

He was making so much noise in splashing the mud over his body that
I had a fine chance for getting up to him. I could not withstand the
temptation, and I crept up as fast as I could.

I got within eight paces of him unperceived; the mud that he threw
over his back spattered round me as it fell. I was carrying a light
double-barrelled gun, but I now reached back my hand to exchange it for
my four-ounce rifle. Little did I expect the sudden effect produced
by the additional weight of the heavy weapon. The treacherous surface
suddenly gave way, and in an instant I was waist deep in mud. The noise
that I had made in falling had at once aroused the elephant, and, true
to his character of a rogue, he immediately advanced with a shrill
trumpet towards me. His ears were cocked, and his tail was well up; but
instead of charging, as rogues generally do, with his head thrown rather
back and held high, which renders a front shot very uncertain, he rather
lowered his head, and splashed towards me through the mud, apparently
despising my diminutive appearance.

I thought it was all up with me this time; I was immovable in my bed of
mud, and, instead of the clean brown barrel that I could usually trust
to in an extremity, I raised a mass of mud to my shoulder, which encased
my rifle like a flannel bag. I fully expected it to miss fire; no sights
were visible, and I had to guess the aim with the advancing elephant
within five yards of me. Hopelessly I pulled the slippery trigger. The
rifle did not even hang fire, and the rogue fell into the deep bed of
mud stone dead. If the rifle had missed fire I must have been killed, as
escape would have been impossible. It was with great difficulty that I
was extricated from my muddy position by the joint exertions of myself
and gun-bearers.

Elephants, buffaloes, and hogs are equally fond of wallowing in the mud.
A buffalo will gallop through a swamp, hock deep, in which a horse would
be utterly powerless, even without a rider. Elephants can also make
wonderful progress through deep mud, the formation of the hind legs
with knees instead of hocks giving them an increased facility for moving
through heavy ground.

The great risk in attacking rogue elephants consists in the
impracticability of quick movements upon such ground as they generally