We determined to take a stroll along the base of the dam to
reconnoitre the ground, as at present it seemed impossible to
make an attack; and even were the elephants within the forest,
there appeared to be no possibility of following them up through
such deep water and heavy ground with any chance of success.
however, they were not in the forest, being safe, belly and
shoulder deep, in the tank.
We strolled through mud and water thigh-deep for a few hundred
paces, when we suddenly came upon the spot where in ages past the
old dam had been carried away. Here the natives had formed a mud
embankment strengthened by sticks and wattles. Poor fellows! we
were not surprised at their wishing the elephants destroyed; the
repair of their fragile dam was now a daily occupation, for the
elephants, as though out of pure mischief, had chosen this spot
as their thoroughfare to and from the lake, and the dam was
trodden down in all directions.
We found that the margin of the forest was everywhere flooded to
a width of about two hundred yards, after which it was tolerably
dry; we therefore returned to our former post.
It struck me that the only way to secure a shot at the herd would
be to employ a ruse, which I had once practiced successfully some
years ago.
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