He Had Killed Several Natives In This Manner, Involving Them
In The Common Ruin With Their Watch-Houses.
The terror created by this
elephant was so extreme that the natives deserted the neighbourhood that
he infested.
`At length many months passed away without his being either seen or
heard of; the people began to hope that he had died from the effect of
poisoned arrows, which had frequently been shot at him from the
watch-houses in high trees; and, by degrees, the terror of his name had
lost its power, and he ceased to be thought of.
`It was in the cool of the evening, about an hour before sunset, that
about twenty of the women from the village were upon the grassy borders
of the lake, engaged in sorting and tying into bundles the rushes which
they had been gathering during the day for making mats. They were on the
point of starting homeward with their loads, when the sudden trumpet of
an elephant was heard, and to their horror they saw the well-known
rogue, with the unmistakable mark upon his forehead, coming down in full
charge upon them. The ground was perfectly open; there were no trees for
some hundred yards, except the jungle from which he was advancing at a
frightful speed. An indiscriminate flight of course took place, and a
race of terror commenced. In a few seconds the monster was among them,
and, seizing a young girl in his trunk, he held her high in the air, and
halted, as though uncertain how to dispose of his helpless victim.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 106 of 343
Words from 27998 to 28263
of 91283
