In About A
Quarter Of An Hour We Distinctly Heard The Cracking Of The Dhurra
Stems, As The Elephants Browsed, And Trampled Them Beneath Their
Feet.
"Taking the proper position of the wind, I led our party
cautiously in the direction of the sound, and in about five
minutes I came in view of the slate-coloured and dusky forms of
the herd.
The moon was bright, and I counted nine elephants; they
had trampled a space of about fifty yards square into a barren
level, and they were now slowly moving forward, feeding as they
went. One elephant, unfortunately, was separated from the herd,
and was about forty yards in the rear; this fellow I was afraid
would render our approach difficult. Cautioning my men,
especially Bacheet, to keep close to me with the spare rifles, I
crept along the alleys formed by the tall rows of dhurra, and
after carefully stalking against the wind, I felt sure that it
would be necessary to kill the single elephant before I should be
able to attack the herd. Accordingly, I crept nearer and nearer,
well concealed in the favourable crop of high and sheltering
stems, until I was within fifteen yards of the hindmost animal.
As I had never shot one of the African species, I was determined
to follow the Ceylon plan, and get as near as possible; therefore
I continued to creep from row to row of dhurra, until I at length
stood at the very tail of the elephant in the next row. I could
easily have touched it with my rifle, but just at this moment, it
either obtained my wind, or it heard the rustle of the men. It
quickly turned its head half round towards me; in the same
instant I took the temple shot, and, by the flash of the rifle,
I saw that it fell. Jumping forward past the huge body, I fired
the left-hand barrel at an elephant that had advanced from the
herd; it fell immediately! Now came the moment for a grand rush,
as they stumbled in confusion over the last fallen elephant, and
jammed together in a dense mass with their immense ears
outspread, forming a picture of intense astonishment! Where were
my spare guns? Here was a grand opportunity to run in and floor
them right and left!
"Not a man was in sight, everybody had bolted! and I stood in
advance of the dead elephant calling for my guns in vain. At
length one of my fellows came up, but it was too late, the fallen
elephant in the herd had risen from the ground, and they had all
hustled off at a great pace, and were gone; I had only bagged one
elephant. Where was the valiant Bacheet? the would-be Nimrod, who
for the last three months had been fretting in inactivity, and
longing for the moment of action, when he had promised to be my
trusty gun-bearer! He was the last man to appear, and he only
ventured from his hiding-place in the high dhurra when assured of
the elephants' retreat.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 132 of 290
Words from 68648 to 69168
of 151461
