Palliser took a steady shot
at a fine elephant about eight yards from him, and fired.
The only effect produced was a furious charge right into us!
Away went all the gun-bearers except Wallace as hard as they could run,
completely panic-stricken. Palliser and Wortley jumped to one side to
get clear of the smoke, which hung like a cloud before them; and having
taken my position with the expectation of something of this kind, I had
a fine clear forehead shot as the elephant came rushing on; and I
dropped him dead.
The gun-bearers were in such a fright that they never stopped till they
got out on the patina.
The herd had of course gone off at the alarm of the firing, and we got a
glimpse of the old 'rogue' as he was taking to the jungle. Palliser
fired an ineffectual shot at him at a long range, and the day closed. It
was moonlight when we reached the 'amblam': the bag for that day being
five elephants, and two bucks.
Dec. 9.--We had alarmed this part of the country; and after spending a
whole morning in wandering over a large extent of ground without seeing
a fresh track of an elephant, we determined to move on to Nielgalla,
eight miles from the 'amblam.' We accordingly packed up, and started off
our coolies by the direct path, while we made a long circuit by another
route, in the hope of meeting with heavy game.
After riding about four miles, our path lay through a dense forest up
the steep side of a hill. Over this was a narrow road, most difficult
for a horse to ascend, on account of the large masses of rocks, which
choked the path from the base to the summit. Leaving the horse-keepers
with the horses to scramble up as they best could, we took our guns and
went on in advance. We had nearly reached the summit of this pass, when
we came suddenly upon some fragments of chewed leaves and branches,
lying in the middle of the path. The saliva was still warm upon them,
and the dung of an elephant lay in the road in a state which proved his
close vicinity. There were no tracks, of course, as the path was nothing
but a line of piled rocks, from which the forest had been lately
cleared, and the elephants had just been disturbed by the clattering of
the horses' hoofs in ascending the rugged pass.
Banda had run on in front about fifty yards before us, but we had no
sooner arrived on the summit of the hill, than we saw him returning at a
flying pace towards us, with an elephant chasing him in full speed.
It was an exciting scene while it lasted: with the activity of a deer,
he sprang from rock to rock, while we of course ran to his assistance,
and arrived close to the elephant just as Banda had reached a high block
of stone, which furnished him an asylum. A shot from Palliser brought
the elephant upon his knees, but, immediately recovering himself, he ran
round a large rock. I ran round the other side, and killed him dead
within four paces.
Upon descending the opposite side of the pass, we arrived in flat
country, and on the left of the road we saw another elephant, a 'rogue',
in high lemon grass. We tried to get a shot at him, but it was of no
use; the grass was so high and thick, that after trying several
experiments, we declined following him in such ground. We arrived at
Nielgalla in the evening without farther sport: here we killed a few
couple of snipe in the paddy-fields, which added to our dinner.
Dec. 10.--Having beaten several miles of country without seeing any
signs of elephants, we came unexpectedly upon a herd of wild buffaloes;
they were standing in beautiful open ground, interspersed with trees,
about a hundred and ten paces from us. I gave Palliser my heavy rifle,
as he was very anxious to get a pair of good horns, and with the
pleasure of a spectator I watched the sport. He made a good shot with
the four-ounce, and dropped the foremost buffalo; the herd galloped off
but he broke the hind leg of another buffalo with one of the No. 10
rifles, and, after a chase of a couple of hundred yards, he came up with
the wounded beast, who could not extricate himself from a deep gully of
water, as he could not ascend the steep bank on three legs. A few more
shots settled him.
We gave up all ideas of elephants for this day after so much firing;
but, curious enough, just as we were mounting our horses, we heard the
roar of an elephant in a jungle on the hillside about half a mile
distant. There was no mistaking the sound, and we were soon at the spot.
This jungle was very extensive, and the rocky bed of a mountain-torrent
divided it into two portions; on the right hand was fine open forest,
and on the left thorny chenar. The elephants were in the open forest,
close to the edge of the torrent.
The herd winded us just as we were approaching up the steep ascent of
the rocky stream, and they made a rush across the bed of the torrent to
gain the thick jungle on the opposite bank. Banda immediately beckoned
to me to come into the jungle with the intention of meeting the
elephants as they entered, while Palliser was to command the narrow
passage, in which there was only space for one person to shoot, without
confusion.
In the mean time, Palliser knocked over three elephants as they crossed
the stream, while we, on reaching the thick jungle, found it so dense
that we could see nothing.
