Their Attention Was Roused,
And They Moved Off To My Left, Which Change Of Position
Immediately Gave Them Our Wind.
There was no time to lose, as the
herd was in retreat; and, as they were passing across my
Path, at
about two hundred paces distance, I ran at my best speed,
stumbling through the broken pie-crust, and sinking in the
yawning crevices, the sides of which were perfectly rotten, until
I arrived within shot of about twenty-five elephants. I was just
on the point of firing at the temple of a large animal that was
within about ten yards, when it suddenly turned, and charged
straight at me. With the right-hand barrel of a Reilly No. 10, I
was fortunate enough to turn it by a forehead shot, when so close
that it was nearly upon me. As it swerved, I fired the remaining
barrel exactly through the centre of the shoulder; this dropped
and killed the elephant as though it had been shot through the
brain.
The difficulties of the ground were such, that the horses were
not led as quickly as I had expected; thus I had to reload, which
I had just completed when Aggahr was brought by Taher Noor.
Springing into the saddle I at once gave chase. The gallant old
horse flew along through the high grass, regardless of the
crevices and rotten ground. The herd was about three hundred
yards ahead, but the long steady stride of Aggahr quickly
shortened the distance, and in a few minutes I was riding
alongside the elephants, that were shambling along at a great
pace. I determined to head them, and drive them back towards my
people, in which case I expected that we might be able to
surround them. I touched Aggahr with the spur, and he shot ahead
of the leading elephants, when I turned sharp to the right
exactly before their path, and gave a shout to check their
advance; in the same instant, Aggahr turned a complete somersault
within a few yards of their feet, having put his fore-leg into a
deep crevice, and I rolled over almost beneath the elephants with
the heavy rifle in my hand. The horse recovered quicker than I,
and, galloping off, he vanished in the high grass, leaving me
rather confused from the fall upon my head. The herd, instead of
crushing me as they ought to have done, took fright, and bolted
off at their best pace. My eyes were dancing with the fall; the
mounted gun-bearers were nowhere, as Gazelle would not face the
elephants, and Tetel was far behind. My English saddle had
vanished with Aggahr, and, as the stirrups of the Arab saddles
were simple rings for the accommodation of the big toe, they were
unserviceable. Had the aggageers been with me, I should have had
great sport with this herd; but, with the exception of Taher
Noor, the men were bad horsemen, and even he was afraid of the
ground, which was frightfully dangerous.
We discovered that the bullet had passed through the great artery
of the heart, which had caused the instantaneous death of the
elephant I had shot.
We were now at least seventeen miles from camp, and I feared that
Aggahr would be lost, and would most likely be devoured by a lion
during the night: thus I should lose not only my good old hunter,
but my English saddle. I passed several hours in searching for
him in all directions, and, in order to prevent him from straying
to the south, we fired the grass in all directions; we thus had
a line of fire between the camp and ourselves; this burnt slowly,
as the north wind had carried the blaze rapidly in the other
direction. We rode along the bottom of a watercourse and reached
the Salaam river, thus avoiding the fire; but, some hours before
we neared the camp, night had set in. We had beaten the fire, as
we had got to windward, and slowly and tediously we toiled along
the crumbling soil, stumbling among the crevices, that were
nearly invisible in the moonlight.
Thus we crept onwards; I had found riding impracticable,
therefore the horses were led, with much difficulty, as they
constantly slipped up to their knees in the numerous fissures. It
was difficult to recognise our position in the moonlight, and we
were doubtful whether we had not missed our route to the camp. My
watch told me that it was past nine o'clock, and we had been
sixteen hours in hard work without the slightest rest. We halted
to confer about the direction of the camp, when suddenly I heard
the report of a gun to our right; we immediately turned, and
hastened towards the welcome sound; presently I heard a distant
shout. As we approached, this was repeated, and as I hurried
forward, I recognised my own name shouted in an agonised voice.
I ran on alone at my best speed, after giving a loud shrill
whistle upon my fingers. This was quickly replied to, and I
repeated the well-known signal, until in about ten minutes I met
my wife, who had been wandering about the country half distracted
for hours, searching for me in every direction, as my horse
Aggahr had returned to the camp with the bridle broken, and the
empty saddle scratched by the boughs of trees; she had naturally
concluded that some accident had happened. She had immediately
armed herself with the little Fletcher that had been left in the
camp, being too small for elephants; with this, and several of
the Arabs armed with swords and lances, she had been hunting
throughout this wild country during the night in a state of
terrible anxiety. It was fortunate that she had fired the shot to
direct our attention, otherwise we might have passed each other
without being seen. "All's well that ends well:" we were about
three miles from camp, but the distance appeared short to
everybody, as we now knew the true direction, and we at length
perceived the glare of a large fire that our people had lighted
as a beacon.
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