The Moormen
Immediately Informed Us That They Were A Notorious Pair, Who Always
Associated Together, And Were The Dread Of The Neighbourhood.
There were
many tales of their ferocity and daring, which at the time we gave
little heed to.
Crossing the tank in a large canoe, we arrived in the open forest upon
the opposite shore. It was a mass of elephant tracks; which sank deep in
the soft earth. They were all so fresh and confused that tracking was
very difficult. However, we at length fixed upon the tracks of a pair of
elephants, and followed them up. This was a work of considerable time,
but the distant cracking of a bough at length attracted us to their
position, and we shortly came up with them, just as they had winded us
and were moving off. I fired an ineffectual shot at the temple of one,
which separated him from the other, after whom we started in chase at
full speed. Full speed soon ended in a stand-still in such ground; it
was deep, stiff clay, in which we sank over our ankles at every step,
and varied our struggles by occasionally flying sprawling over the
slippery roots of the trees.
The elephants ran clean away from us, and the elephant-catchers, who
knew nothing of the rules for carrying spare guns, entering into the
excitement of the chase, and free from the impediments of shoes, ran
lightly along the muddy ground, and were soon out of sight as well as
the elephants.
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