I moved round the tree to secrete myself as he advanced.

He was soon exactly at right angles with me as he was passing the tree, when he suddenly stopped: his whole demeanour changed in an instant; his ears cocked, his eyes gleamed, his tail on end and his trunk raised high in the air, he turned the distended tip towards the tree from behind which I was watching him.

He was perfectly motionless and silent in this attitude for some moments.

He was thirty yards from me, as I supposed at the time, and I reserved my fire, having the four-ounce rifle ready.

Suddenly, with his trunk still raised, his long legs swung forward towards me.