The Rifle And The Hound In Ceylon(Fiscle Part-3), Sir Samuel White Baker [most inspirational books .txt] 📗
- Author: Sir Samuel White Baker
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Dinner Depending Upon Success, I Stalked Them With The Greatest Caution.
Taking Killbuck And Lena In The Slips I Crept From Tree To Tree Without
The Slightest Noise; I Had The Wind, And If Any Dogs Could Kill A Deer
In The Difficult Position In Which The Herd Stood, These Two Would Do
It. I Got Within Sixty Yards Of The Herd Before They Observed Me, And As
They Dashed Off Towards The Jungle, I Slipped The Straining Greyhounds.
A Loud Cheer To The Dogs Confused The Herd, And They Scattered To The
Right And Left As They Gained The Forest, The Dogs Being Close Up With
Them, And Killbuck Almost At A Buck's Throat As He Reached The Jungle.
Following As Well As I Could Through The Dusky Jungle, I Shortly Heard
The Cry Of A Deer, And On Arriving At The Spot I Found Killbuck And Lena
With A Buck On The Ground. No Deer Had A Chance With This Wonderful Dog
Killbuck. When He Was Once Slipped, There Was No Hope For The Game
Pursued; No Matter What The Character Of The Country Might Be, It Was
Certain Death To The Deer. We Gralloched The Buck, And Having Fed The
Dogs With The Offal, We Carried Him On A Pole To The Place Where We Had
Left The Horses. On Arrival, We Deposited Our Heavy Burden; And To Our
Satisfaction, We Found All Our People Had Arrived. The Tents Were
Pitched, And The Night-Fires Were Already Blazing, As Daylight Had
Nearly Ceased.
In The Course Of An Hour, We Were Comfortably Seated At Our Table, With
Venison Steaks, And Chops Smoking Before Us--Thanks To The Dogs, Who
Were Now Soundly Sleeping At Our Feet. During The Progress Of Dinner I
Planned The Work For The Day Following. We Were Now Eight Miles From
Nielgalla (Blue Rock), The Village At Which Banda Resided, And I Ordered
A Man To Start Off At Daybreak To Tell Him That I Was In His Country,
And To Bring Old Medima And Several Other Good Men (That I Knew) To The
Tent Without Delay. I Proposed That We Should, In The Meantime, Start At
Daylight On The Tracks Of The Two Elephants That We Had Seen Upon The
Hills, Taking Wallace And A Few Of The Best Coolies As Gun-Bearers.
Wallace Is A Cochin Man, Who Prides Himself Upon A Mixture Of Portuguese
Blood. He Speaks Six Different Languages Fluently, And Is Without
Exception The Best Interpreter And The Most Plucky Gun-Bearer That I
Have Ever Seen. He Has Accompanied Me Through So Many Scenes With
Unvarying Firmness That I Never Have The Slightest Anxiety About My
Spare Guns If He Is There, As He Keeps The Little Troop Of Gun-Bearers
In Their Places In A Most Methodical Manner.
At Break Of Day On The Following Morning We Were Upon The Tracks Of The
Two Elephants, But A Slight Shower During The Night Had So Destroyed
Them That We Found It Was Impossible To Follow Them Up. We Therefore
Determined To Examine The Country Thoroughly For Fresh Tracks, And We
Accordingly Passed Over Many Miles Of Ground, But To Little Purpose, As
None Were To Be Seen.
We At Length Discovered Fresh Traces Of A Herd In Thick Thorny Jungle,
Which Was Too Dense To Enter, But Marking Their Position, We Determined
To Send Out Watchers On The Following Day To Track Them Into Better
Country. 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
Part 3 Chapter 10 Pg 75Briskly 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.
Part 3 Chapter 10 Pg 76
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. A Large Elephant And Her Young One, Who
Was About Three Feet And A Half High, Were Retreating Up The Rugged Side
Of The Mountain, And The Mother, Instead Of Protecting The Little One,
Was Soon A Hundred Paces Ahead Of Him, And Safely Located In A Thick
Jungle Which Covered That Portion Of The Mountain. Being Empty-Handed, I
Soon Scrambled Up And Caught The Little Fellow By The Tail; But He Was
So Strong That I Could Not Hold Him, Although I Exerted All My Strength,
And He Dragged Me Slowly Towards The Jungle To Which His Mother Had
Retreated. V. Now Came Up, And He Being Loaded, I Told Him To Keep A
Look-Out For The Mother's Return, While I Secured My Captive, By Seizing
Him By The Trunk With One Hand And By The Tail With The Other; In This
Manner I Could Just Master Him By Throwing My Whole Weight Down The
Hill, And He Began To Roar Like A Full-Grown Elephant. The Mother Was
For A Wonder Faithless To Her Charge, And Did Not Return To The Little
One's Assistance. While I Was Engaged In Securing Him, The Gun-Bearers
Came Up, And At This Moment I Observed, At The Foot Of The Hill, Another
Elephant, Not Quite Full Grown, Who Was Retreating Through The High
Grass Towards The Jungle. There Were No Guns Charged Except One Of My
No. 10 Rifles, Which Some One Had Reloaded; Taking This, I Left The
Little 'Ponchy' With V. And The Gun-Bearers, And Running Down The Side
Of The Hill, I Came Up With The Elephant Just As He Was Entering The
Jungle, And Getting The Earshot, I Killed Him.
We Had Bagged Nine Elephants, And Only One Had Escaped From The Herd;
This Was The Female Who Had Forsaken Her Young One.
Wallace
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