Ounce ball through his lungs would kill him eventually, and, at all
events, he would not be in a humour to interrupt our pursuit of the
herd, which we were to push for the moment we had put the rogue out of
the way.
These arrangements being made, we started. After a ride of about four
miles through beautiful country, we saw a man in the distance, who was
beckoning to us. This was one of the watchers, who pointed to a jungle
into which the elephant had that moment entered. From the extreme
caution of the trackers, I could see that this rogue was worthy of his
name.
The jungle into which he had entered was a long but narrow belt, about a
hundred yards in width; it was tolerably good, but still it was so close
that we could not see more than six paces in advance. I fully expected
that he was lying in wait for us, and would charge when least expected.
We therefore cautiously entered the jungle, and, sending Banda on in
advance, with instructions to retreat upon the guns if charged, we
followed him at about twenty paces distance.
Banda immediately untied his long hair, which fell to his hips, and
divesting himself of all clothing except a cloth round his loins, he
crept on in advance as stealthily as a cat. So noiselessly did he move
that we presently saw him gliding back to us without a sound. He
whispered that he had found the elephant, who was standing on the
patina, a few yards beyond the jungle. We immediately advanced, and upon
emerging from the jungle we saw him within thirty paces on our right,
standing with his broadside exposed. Crack went the four-ounce through
his shoulder, and the three-ounce and No. 8, with a similar good
intention, into his head. Nevertheless he did not fall, but started off
at a great pace, though stumbling nearly on his knees, his head and tail
both hanging down, his trunk hanging listlessly upon the ground; and his
ears, instead of being cocked, were pressed tightly back against his
neck. He did not look much like a rogue at that moment, with upwards of
half a pound of lead in his carcass. Still we could not get another shot
at him before he reached a jungle about seventy paces distant; and here
we stopped to load before we followed him, thinking that he was in dense
chenar. This was a great mistake, for, on following him a minute later,
we found the jungle was perfectly open, being merely a fringe of forest
on the banks of a broad river; in crossing this we must have killed him
had we not stopped to load.
On the sandy bed of this river we found the fresh tracks of several
elephants, who had evidently, only just retreated, being disturbed by
the shots fired; these were a portion of the herd; and the old rogue
having got his quietus, we pushed on as fast as we could upon the tracks
through fine open forest.
For about an hour we pressed on through forests, plains, rivers, and
thick jungles alternately, till at length upon arriving on some rising
ground, we heard the trumpet of an elephant.
It was fine country, but overgrown with lemon grass ten feet high.
Clumps of trees were scattered here and there among numerous small
dells. Exactly opposite lay several large masses of rock, shaded by a
few trees, and on our left lay a small hollow of high lemon grass,
bordered by jungle.
In this hollow we counted seven elephants: their heads and backs were
just discernible above the grass, as we looked over them from some
rising ground at about seventy yards distance. Three more elephants were
among the rocks, browsing upon the long grass.
We now heard unmistakable sounds of a large number of elephants in the
jungle below us, from which the seven elephants in the hollow had only
just emerged, and we quietly waited for the appearance of the whole
herd, this being their usual feeding-time.
One by one they majestically stalked from the jungle. We were
speculating on the probable number of this large herd, when one of them
suddenly winded us, and, with magical quickness, they all wheeled round
and rushed back into the jungle.
Calling upon my little troop of gun-bearers to keep close up, away we
dashed after them at full speed; down the steep hollow and through the
high lemon grass, now trampled into lanes by the retreating elephants.
In one instant the jungle seemed alive; there were upwards of fifty
elephants in the herd. The trumpets rang through the forest, the young
trees and underwood crashed in all directions with an overpowering
noise, as this mighty herd, bearing everything before it, crashed in one
united troop through the jungle.
At the extreme end of the grassy hollow there was a snug corner formed
by an angle in the jungle. A glade of fine short turf stretched for a
small distance into the forest, and, as the herd seemed to be bearing
down in this direction, Wortley and I posted off as hard as we could go,
hoping to intercept them if they crossed the glade. We arrived there in
a few moments, and taking our position on this fine level sward, about
ten paces from the forest, we awaited the apparently irresistible storm
that was bursting exactly upon us.
No pen, nor tongue can describe the magnificence of the scene; the
tremendous roaring of the herd, mingled with the shrill screams of other
elephants; the bursting stems of the broken trees; the rushing sound of
the leafy branches as though a tempest were howling through them--all
this concentrating with great rapidity upon the very spot upon which we
were standing
This was an exciting moment, especially to nerves unaccustomed to the
sport.
