Having Killed A Deer, We Started Him Off With Some Coolies That
We Had Taken With Us On This Chance,
And we continued our route till 3
P.M. We had lost our way, and, not having any guide, we
Had no notion of
the position of the tents; the heat of the day had been intense, and,
not having breakfasted, we were rather anxious about the direction.
Strolling through this beautiful expanse of Park country, we directed
our course for a large rocky mountain, at a few miles' distance, at the
base of which I knew lay the route from the tent to Nielgalla. To our
great satisfaction we found the path at about 4 P.M., and we walked
briskly along at the foot of the mountain in the direction of our
encampment, which was about four miles distant.
We had just arrived at an angle of the mountain, which, in passing, we
were now leaving to our left, when we suddenly halted, our attention
having been arrested by the loud roaring of elephants in a jungle at the
foot of the hills, within a quarter of a mile of us. The roaring
continued at intervals, reverberating among the rocks like distant
thunder, till it at length died away to stillness.
We soon arrived in the vicinity of the sound, and shortly discovered
tracks upon a hard sandy soil, covered with rocks and overgrown with a
low, but tolerably open jungle at the base of the mountain. Following
the tracks, we began to ascend steep flights of natural steps formed by
the successive layers of rock, which girded the foot of the mountain;
these were covered with jungle, interspersed with large detached masses
of granite, which in some places formed alleys through which the herd
had passed. The surface of the ground being nothing but hard rock,
tracking was very difficult, and it took me a considerable time to
follow them up by the pieces of twigs and crunched leaves, which the
elephants had dropped while feeding. I at length tracked them to a small
pool formed by the rain-water in the hollow of the rock; here they had
evidently been drinking only a few minutes previous, as the tracks of
their feet upon the margin of the pool were still wet. I now went on in
advance of the party with great caution, as I knew that we were not many
paces from the herd. Passing through several passages among the rocks, I
came suddenly upon a level plateau of ground covered with dense lemon
grass about twelve feet high, which was so thick and tangled, that a man
could with difficulty force his way through it. This level space was
about two acres in extent, and was surrounded by jungle upon all sides
but one; on this side, to our right as we entered, the mountain rose in
rocky steps, from the crevices of which, the lemon grass grew in tall
tufts.
The instant that I arrived in this spot, I perceived the nap of an
elephant's ear in the high grass, about thirty paces from me, and upon
careful inspection I distinguished two elephants standing close
together. By the rustling of the grass in different places I could see
that the herd was scattered, but I could not make out the elephants
individually, as the grass was above their heads.
I paused for some minutes to consider the best plan of attack; but the
gun-bearers, who were behind me, being in a great state of excitement,
began to whisper to each other, and in arranging their positions behind
their respective masters, they knocked several of the guns together. In
the same moment, the two leading elephants discovered us, and, throwing
their trunks up perpendicularly, they blew the shrill trumpet of alarm
without attempting to retreat. Several trumpets answered the call
immediately from different positions in the high grass, from which,
trunks were thrown up, and huge heads just appeared in many places, as
they endeavoured to discover the danger which the leaders had announced.
The growl of an elephant is exactly like the rumbling of thunder, and
from their deep lungs the two leader, who had discovered us, kept up an
uninterrupted peal, thus calling the herd together. Nevertheless, they
did not attempt to retreat, but stood gazing attentively at us with
their ears cocked, looking extremely vicious. In the meantime, we stood
perfectly motionless, lest we should scare them before the whole herd
had closed up. In about a minute, a dense mass of elephants had
collected round the two leaders, who were all gazing at us; and thinking
this a favourable moment, I gave the word, and we pushed towards them
through the high grass. A portion of the herd immediately wheeled round
and retreated as we advanced, but five elephants, including the two who
had first discovered us, formed in a compact line abreast, and thrashing
the long grass to the right and left with their trunks, with ears cocked
and tails up, they came straight at us. We pushed forward to meet them,
but they still came on in a perfect line, till within ten paces of us.
A cloud of smoke hung over the high grass as the rifles cracked in rapid
succession, and the FIVE ELEPHANTS LAY DEAD in the same order as they
had advanced. The spare guns had been beautifully handed; and running
between the carcasses, we got into the lane that the remaining portion
of the herd had made by crushing the high grass in their retreat. We
were up with them in a few moments; down went one! then another! up he
got again, almost immediately recovering from V.'s shot; down he went
again! as I floored him with my last barrel.
I was now unloaded, as I had only two of my double-barrelled No. 10
rifles out that day, but the chase was so exciting that I could not help
following empty-handed, in the hope that some gun-bearer might put one
of V.'s spare guns in my hand.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 59 of 90
Words from 59146 to 60166
of 91283
