The Rifle And The Hound In Ceylon(Fiscle Part-3), Sir Samuel White Baker [most inspirational books .txt] 📗

But The Remedy Is Almost As Unpleasant As The Bite.

Ceylon Is,  At All Times,  A Frightful Place For Vermin: In The Dry

Weather We Have Ticks; It The Wet Weather Mosquitoes,  And,  What Are

Still More Disgusting,  'Leeches,' Which Swarm In The Grass,  And Upon The

Leaves Of The Jungle. These Creatures Insinuate Themselves Through All

The Openings In A Person's Dress--Up The Trousers,  Under The Waistcoat,

Down The Neck,  Up The Wrists,  And In Fact Everywhere,  Drawing Blood With

Insatiable Voracity,  And Leaving An Unpleasant Irritation For Some Days

After.

 

All These Annoyances Form Great Drawbacks To The Enjoyment Of The

Low-Country Sports; Although They Are Afterwards Forgotten,  And The

Bright Moments Of The Sport Are All That Are Looked Back To,  They Are

Great Discomforts At The Time. When The Day Is Over,  And The Man,

Fatigued By Intense Heat And A Hard Day's Work,  Feels Himself Refreshed

By A Bath And A Change Of Clothes,  The Incurable Itching Of A Thousand

Tick-Bites Destroys All His Pleasure; He Finds Himself Streaming With

Blood From Leech-Bites,  And For The Time He Feels Disgusted With The

Country. First-Rate Sport Can Alone Compensate For All These Annoyances.

 

There Is A Portion Of The Park Country Known As Dimbooldene. In This

Part There Is A Cave Formed By A Large Overhanging Rock,  Which Is A Much

Cooler Residence Than The Tent. Here We Accordingly Bivouacked,  The Cave

Being Sufficiently Large To Contain The Horses In Addition To Ourselves

And Servants. After A Delightfully Cool Night,  Free From Mosquitoes,  We

Made A Day Of It,  But We Walked From Sunrise Till 5 P.M. Without Seeing

A Sign Of An Elephant. At Length,  From The Top Of A High Hill On The

Very Confines Of The Park Country,  We Looked Across A Deep Valley,  And

With The Assistance Of The Telescope We Plainly Distinguished A Large

Single Elephant Feeding On The Grassy Side Of An Opposite Mountain. To

Cross The Deep Valley That Separated Us,  And To Ascend The Mountain,

Would Have Taken Several Hours,  And At This Time Of The Day It Was

Impracticable; We Were Thus Compelled To Turn Our Backs Upon The Game,

And Return Towards Our Rocky Home. Tired,  More From Our Want Of Success

Than From The Day's Work,  We Strolled Leisurely Along,  And We Were

Talking Of The Best Plan To Be Adopted For The Next Day's Work,  When I

Suddenly Observed A Herd Of Eight Elephants Going Up The Side Of A Small

Hill At Their Best Pace Within 200 Yards Of Us. They Had Just Quitted A

Small Jungle At The Bottom Of A Ravine,  And They Had Been Alarmed By Our

Approach.

 

Off We Started In Pursuit,  Down The Rugged Side Of The Hill We Were

Descending,  And Up The Opposite Hill,  Upon The Elephants' Tracks,  As

Hard As We Could Run. Just As We Reached The Top Of The Hill,  The

Elephants Were Entering A Small Jungle On The Other Side. My Brother Got

A Shot,  And Killed The Last Of The Herd; In Another Moment They Had

Disappeared. It Had Been A Sharp Burst Up The Steep Hill,  And We Stopped

To Breathe,  But We Were Almost Immediately In Pursuit Again,  As We Saw

The Herd Emerge From The Jungle At The Base Of The Hill,  And Plough

Their Way Through A Vast Field Of High Lemon Grass.

 

Upon Arriving On Their Tracks,  They Had Fairly Distanced Us. The Grass,

Which Was As Thick As A Hedge,  Was Trodden Into Lanes By The Elephants,

And Upon Either Side It Stood Like A Wall Ten Or Twelve Feet High. Upon

These Tracks We Ran Along For Some Time,  Until It Became Dusk. We

Halted,  And Were Consulting As To The Prudence Of Continuing The Chase

At This Late Hour,  When We Suddenly Heard The Cracking Of The Branches

In A Small Jungle In A Hollow Close To Our Left,  And Upon Taking A

Position Upon Some Rising Ground,  We Distinctly Saw Several Elephants

Standing In The High Grass About A Hundred Paces Before Us,  Close To The

Edge Of The Jungle In Which The Remaining Portion Of The Herd Was

Concealed. Two Of The Elephants Were Looking At Us,  And As There Was No

Time To Lose,  We Walked Straight Up To Them. They Stood Quietly Watching

Us Till We Were Within Twenty Yards,  When They Came A Few Paces Forward,

One Immediately Fall Ing Dead To My Shot,  While The Other Was Turned By

A Shot From My Brother; The Rest Retreated To The Jungle Over The Most

Difficult Ground For Both Man And Beast. Immense Rocks Lay Scattered In

Heaps Over The Surface,  Forming Chasms By The Intervening Crevices Of

Five And Six Feet In Depth; From These Crevices The Long Lemon Grass

Grew In Dense Tufts,  Completely Hiding The Numerous Pitfalls,  And Making

Part 3 Chapter 9 Pg 73

The Retreat Of The Elephants And Our Pursuit Equally Difficult. I Was

Close To The Tail Of A Large Elephant,  Who Was Picking His Way Carefully

Over The Treacherous Surface,  And I Was Waiting For An Opportunity For A

Shot Should He Turn His Head,  When I Suddenly Pitched Head First Into

One Of These Rocky Holes. Here I Scrambled For Some Seconds Before I

Could Extricate Myself,  As I Was Carrying My Heavy Four-Ounce Rifle; And

At Length,  Upon Recovering My Footing,  I Found That All The Elephants

Had Gained The Jungle,  Except The One That I Had Been Following. He Was

About Twenty Yards From Me,  And Was Just Entering The Jungle,  But I Got

A Splendid Shot At Him Behind The Ear And Rolled Him Over.

 

It Was Very Nearly Dark,  And We Could Not Of Course Follow The Herd Any

Farther; We Therefore Reloaded,  And Turned Towards The Direction Of The

Cave; This Was Plainly Shown By A Distant Blaze Of Light From The

Night-Fires,  Which Were Already Lit. We Were Walking Slowly Along

Parallel To The Jungle,  Into Which The Elephants Had Retreated,  When My

Man Wallace,  Who Is A Capital Gun-Bearer,  Halloed Out,  `Here Comes An

Elephant!' And In The Dim Twilight I Could See An Elephant Bowling At A

Great Pace Towards Us,  But Close To The Jungle. He Was Forty Yards From

Me,  But My Brother Fired At Him And Without Effect. I Took A Quick Shot

With A Double-Barrelled Rifle,  And He Dropped Immediately. Hearing Him

Roar As He Lay In The High Lemon Grass By The Edge Of The Jungle,  I Ran

Down The Gentle Slope To The Spot,  Followed By My Trusty Gun-Bearer

Wallace,  As I Knew The Elephant Was Only Stunned And Would Soon Recover.

Upon Arriving Within A Few Feet Of The Spot,  Pushing My Way With

Difficulty Through The Tangled Lemon Grass,  I Could Not See Where He

Lay,  As Daylight Had Now Vanished. I Was Vainly Looking About,  When I

Suddenly Heard A Rush In The Grass Close To Me,  And I Saw The Head And

Cocked Ears Of The Elephant Within Six Feet,  As He Came At Me. I Had

Just Time To Fire My Remaining Barrel,  And Down He Dropped To The Shot!

I Jumped Back A Few Paces To Assure Myself Of The Result,  As The Smoke

Hanging In The High Grass,  Added To The Darkness,  Completely Blinded Me.

Wallace Pushed The Spare Rifle Into My Hand,  And To My Astonishment I

Saw The Head And Cocked Ears Again Coming At Me! It Was So Dark That I

Could Not Take An Aim,  But I Floored Him Once More By A Front Shot,  And

Again I Jumped Back Through The Tangled Grass,  Just In Time To Avoid

Him,  As He,  For The Third Time,  Recovered Himself And Charged. He Was

Not Five Paces From Me; I Took A Steady Shot At Him With My Last Barrel,

And I Immediately Bolted As Hard As I Could Run. This Shot Once More

Floored Him,  But He Must Have Borne A Charmed Life,  As He Again

Recovered His Legs,  And To My Great Satisfaction He Turned Into The

Jungle And Retreated. This All Happened In A Few Seconds; Had It Been

Daylight I Could Of Course Have Killed Him,  But As It Happened I Could

Not Even Dis Tinguish The Sights At The End Of My Rifle. In A Few

Minutes Afterwards,  It Became Pitch Dark,  And We Could Only Steer For

The Cave By The Light Of The Fire,  Which Was Nearly Two Miles Distant.

 

The Next Day,  We Found A Herd Of Eight Elephants In Very Favourable

Ground,  And Succeeded In Killing Seven; But This Was The Last Herd In

The Park,  And After A Few Days Spent In Beating Up The Country Without

Success,  I Returned To Newera Ellia,  The Bag Being Twenty-Two Elephants

During A Trip Of Three Weeks,  In Addition To Deer,  Hogs,  Buffalo,  And

Small Game,  Which Had Afforded Excellent Sport.

Part 3 Chapter 10 Pg 74

Another Trip To The Park-A Hard Day's Work-Discover A Herd-Death Of The

Herd-A Furious Charge-Caught At Last-The Consequences-A Thorough

Rogue-Another Herd In High Lemon Grass-Bears-A Fight Between A Moorman

And A Bear-A Musical Herd-Herd Escape-A Plucky Buck-Death Of `Killbuck'

-Good Sport With A Herd-End Of The Trip.

 

About Twelve Months Elapsed Without My Pulling A Trigger. I Had

Contented Myself With Elk-Hunting In Newera Ellia And The Vicinity,  But

In November,  1850,  The Greyhounds Were Again In Their Palanquin,  And,  Ac

Companied By My Brother V.,  I Was Once More In The Saddle On My

Steady-Going Old Horse Jack,  En Route For The Park.

 

It Was 5 P.M. On A Cool And Lovely Evening That We Halted,  And Unsaddled

In This Beautiful Country. Our Tents And Coolies Were Far Behind,  Our

Horse-Keepers Were Our Only Attendants,  And We Fixed Upon A Spot As The

Most Eligible Site For The Tents. A Large Open Park Lay Before Us,

Interspersed With Trees,  And Clumps Of Forest. A Clear Stream Flowed

From Some Low Rocky Hills Upon Our Right,  And Several Detached Masses Of

Rock Lay Scattered Irregularly Here And There,  Like The Ruins Of An Old

Castle. Large Trees Grew From The Crevices Of These Rocks,  And Beneath

Their Shade We Turned Our Horses Loose To Graze Upon A Soft Sweet Grass,

With Which This Part Of The Park Is Covered. We Had The Greyhounds With

Us,  And A Single Rifle,  But No Other Guns,  As The Servants Were Far

Behind. Having Given Directions To The Horse-Keepers To Point Out The

Spot For The Tents On The Arrival Of The People,  We Took A Stroll With

The Greyhounds To Get A Deer,  As We Depended Upon This Chance For Our

Dinner.

 

Just As We Were Starting,  We Noticed Two Large Elephants Feeding On The

Rocky Hills Within A Quarter Of A Mile Of Us; But Having No Guns Up,

With The Exception Of One Rifle,  We Were Obliged To Postpone The Attack,

And,  Cautioning The Horse-Keepers To Observe Silence Lest The Game

Should Be Alarmed,  We Left The Elephants To Their Meal,  While We Struck

Off In Another Direction With The Greyhounds. We Found A Herd Of Deer

Within Half A Mile Of Our Starting-Place; They Had Just Come Out From

The Forest For The Night's Feeding; And When I First Saw Them,  They Were

Barking To Each Other In A Small Glade Within Sixty Paces Of