I clambered down to the edge of the river just in time
to see the elk climbing, as nimbly as a cat up the precipitous
bank on the opposite side, threading his way at a slow walk under
the overhanging rocks, and scrambling up the steep mountain with
a long string of hounds at his heels in single file. "Valiant,"
"Tiptoe" and "Ploughboy" were close to him, and I counted the
other hounds in the line, fully expecting to miss half of them.
To my surprise and delight, only one was absent; this was poor
"Phrenzy." The others had all managed to save themselves. I now
crossed the river by leaping from rock to rock with some
difficulty, and with hands and knees I climbed the opposite bank.
This was about sixty feet high, from the top of which the
mountain commenced its ascent, which, though very precipitous was
so covered with long lemon grass that it was easy enough to
climb. I looked behind me, and there was the Tamby, all right,
within a few paces.
The elk was no longer in sight, and the roar of the water was so
great that it was impossible to hear the hounds. However, I
determined to crawl along his track, which was plainly
discernible, the high grass being broken into a regular lane
which skirted the precipice of the great waterfall in the
direction of the villages.
We were now about a hundred feet above, and on one side of the
great fall, looking into the deep chasm into which the river
leapt, forming a cloud of mist below. The lemon grass was so
high in tufts along the rocks that we could not see a foot before
us, and we knew not whether the next step would land us on firm
footing, or deposit us some hundred feet below. Clutching fast
to the long grass, therefore, we crept carefully on for about a
quarter of a mile, now climbing the face of the rocks, now
descending by means of their irregular surfaces, but still
stirring the dark gorge down which the river fell.
At length, having left the fall some considerable distance
behind us, the ear was somewhat relieved from the bewildering
noise of water, and I distinctly heard the pack at bay not very
far in advance. In another moment I saw the elk standing on a
platform of rock about a hundred yards ahead, on a lower shelf of
the mountain, and the whole pack at bay. This platform was the
top of a cliff which overhung the deep gorge; the river flowing
in the bottom after its great fall, and both the elk and hounds
appeared to be in "a fix." The descent had been made to this
point by leaping down places which he could not possibly
reascend, and there was only one narrow outlet, which was covered
by the hounds. Should he charge through the hounds to force this
passage, half a dozen of them must be knocked over the
precipice.
However, I carefully descended, and soon reached the platform.
This was not more than twenty feet square, and it looked down in
the gorge of about three hundred feet. The first seventy of this
depth were perpendicular, as the top of the rock overhung, after
which the side of the cliff was marked by great fissures and
natural steps formed by the detachment from time to time of
masses of rock which had fallen into the river below. Bushes and
rank grass filled the interstices of the rocks, and an old
deserted water-course lay exactly beneath the platform, being
cut and built out of the side of the cliff.
It was a magnificent sight in such grand scenery to see the buck
at bay when we arrived upon the platform. He was a dare-devil
fellow, and feared neither hounds nor man, every now and then
charging through the pack, and coming almost within reach of the
Tamby's spear. It was a difficult thing to know how to kill him.
I was afraid to go in at him, lest in his struggles he should
drag the hounds over the precipice, and I would not cheer the
seizers on for the same reason. Indeed, they seemed well aware of
the danger, and every now and then retreated to me, as though to
entice the elk to make a move to some better ground.
However, the buck very soon decided the question. I made up my
mind to halloo the hounds on, and to hamstring the elk, to
prevent him from nearing the precipice: and, giving a shout, the
pack rushed at him. Not a dog could touch him; he was too quick
with his horns and fore feet. He made a dash into the pack, and
then regained his position close to the verge of the precipice.
He then turned his back to the hounds, looked down over the edge,
and, to the astonishment of all, plunged into the abyss below! A
dull crash sounded from beneath, and then nothing was heard but
the roaring of the waters as before. The hounds looked over the
edge and yelled with a mixture of fear and despair. Their game
was gone!
By making a circuit of about half a mile among these frightful
precipices and gorges, we at length arrived at the foot of the
cliff down which the buck had leapt. Here we of course found him
lying dead, as he had broken most of his bones. He was in very
fine condition; but it was impossible to move him from such a
spot. I therefore cut off his head, as his antlers were the
finest that I have ever killed before or since.
