The others were just sitting down to dinner, at which I soon joined them; after which, in return for their consideration in allowing me to enjoy the meal undisturbed by questions, I gave them a full account of my adventures, and was heartily congratulated on my narrow escape. Comparing notes with my fellow-sportsmen, I found that the whole party had scattered, returning separately, but in good time. Captain H.—the “long one,” as we called him—had also encountered a large tiger asleep, and was just pushing a bullet down over the shot, when the animal awoke, snarled at him, and walked unconcernedly away. Considering how these animals rest during the day and prowl about in the evening, there was every reason to suppose that his tiger and mine were identical; if so, its experiences that day, encountering no less than three white faces—the captain’s, his orderly’s, and my own—were indeed probably without precedent. That night, I slept soundly; and we started early next morning, for time was precious. Not long after the commencement of this march, we came upon a herd of wild elephants, which at once fled, making the jungle appear as if agitated by a strong wind. It was just as well from our point of view that they did not attempt to fraternize with our tame ones. As a rule they are timid creatures; but the Rogue is an exception, and a very ugly customer to deal with, moving at a pace far beyond anything that could be expected of his size and awkwardness, and making the forest resound with his trumpeting. Soon after this encounter, the camp was thrown into an unusual state of excitement. The Commissioner was cool and collected as usual, but news of an important and possibly disagreeable nature had evidently just reached him. At any rate, a number of padded elephants, heavily laden with armed Europeans and Sepoys, were at once ordered to the front, and went off in hot haste. Without being aware of it at the time, we were within a day’s march of a large stockade, the capture of which was the main object of the Expedition. For a few hours the camp was plunged in profound silence; the remaining troops being kept under cover, ready at a moment’s notice for any emergency. And so we remained until the shadows of the trees began to lengthen considerably, when one of the troopers galloped up with a despatch, from which it appeared that, as our force appeared in sight, the Burmese had fled for their lives, leaving only a few decrepid old men and women, some pariah-dogs, and a number of cooking utensils. Thus was extracted this thorn from the Commissioner’s side without a shot having been fired. He out-Cæsar’d Cæsar, for he came and conquered without even seeing! Those who were not needed to garrison the place returned to camp that evening, while other elephants went with provisions, &c., for the new occupants.