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

Spot Where The Elephants Had First Burst From The

Jungle,  A Heavy Shower Came Down,  And The Locks Of The Guns Were

Immediately Covered Each With A Large Leaf,  And Then Tied Up Securely

With A Handkerchief. A Large Banian Tree Afforded Us An Imaginary

Shelter,  But We Were Drenched To The Skin In A Few Seconds. In The

Meantime,  Palliser Walked Through The High Lemon Grass To Look For His

Dead Elephant.

 

On Arriving At The Spot,  Instead Of Finding A Dead Elephant,  He Found

Him Standing Up,  And Only Just Recovered From The Stunning Effect Of His

Wound.

 

The Elephant Charged Him Immediately; And Palliser,  Having The Lock Of

His Gun Tied Up,  Was Perfectly Defenceless,  And He Was Obliged To Run As

Hard As His Long Legs Would Carry Him.

 

`Look Out! Look Out! An Elephant's Coming! Look Out!'

 

This We Heard Shouted As We Were Standing Beneath The Tree,  And The Next

Moment We Saw Palliser's Tall Form Of Six Feet Four Come Flying Through

The High Grass. Luckily The Elephant Lost Him,  And Turned Off In Some

Other Direction. If He Had Continued The Chase,  He Would Have Made A

Fine Diversion,  As The Locks Were So Tightly Tied Up That We Could Not

Have Got A Gun Ready For Some Time. In A Few Minutes The Shower Cleared

Off,  And On Examining The Place Where The Elephant Had Fallen,  We Found

A Large Pool Of Clotted Blood

 

We Now Rode Homeward,  But We Had Not Gone A Quarter Of A Mile Before We

Heard An Elephant Roaring Loudly In A Jungle Close To As. Thinking That

It Was The Wounded Brute Who Had Just Hunted Palliser,  We Immediately

Dismounted And Approached The Spot. The Roaring Continued Until We Were

Close To It,  And We Then Saw A Young Elephant Standing In The Bed Of A

River,  And He It Was Who Was Making All The Noise,  Having Been Separated

From The Herd In The Late Melee. Wortley Shot Him,  This Making Eight

Killed.

 

When Within A Mile Of The Tent,  As We Were Riding Along A Path Through A

Thick Thorny Jungle,  An Immense Rogue Elephant Stalked Across Our Road.

I Fired The Four-Ounce Through His Shoulder,  To The Great Satisfaction

Of Banda And The Natives,  Although We Never Had A Chance Of Proving What

The Effect Had Been,  As He Was Soon Lost In The Thick Jungle. A Short

Time After This We Reached The Tent,  Having Had The Perfection Of Sport

In Elephant-Shooting,  Although Luck Had Been Against Us In Making A

Large Bag.

 

Dec. 2.--The Scouts Having Been Sent Out At Daybreak,  Returned Early,

Having Found Another Herd Of Elephants. On Our Way To The Spot,  Palliser

Fired At A Rogue,  But Without Effect.

 

On Arrival At The Jungle In Which The Elephants Were Reported To Be,  We

Heard From The Watchers That A Rogue Was Located In The Same Jungle,  In

Attendance Upon The Herd. This Was Now A Regular Thing To Expect,  And

Compelled Us To Be Exceedingly Cautious.

 

Just As We Were Stalking Through The Jungle On The Track Of The Herd,  We

Came Upon The Rogue Himself. Wortley Fired At Him,  But Without Effect,

And Unfortunately The Shot Frightened The Herd,  Which Was Not A Quarter

Of A Mile Distant,  And The Elephants Retreated To A Large Tract Of Thick

Jungle Country,  Where Pursuit Was Impracticable. Our Party Was Too Large

For Shooting 'Rogues' With Any Degree Of Success. These Brutes,  Being

Always On The Alert,  Require The Most Careful Stalking. There Is Only

One Way To Kill Them With Any Certainty. Two Persons,  At Most,  To

Attack; Each Person To Be Accompanied By Only One Gunbearer,  Who Should

Carry Two Spare Guns. One Good Tracker Should Lead This Party Of Five

People In Single File. With Great Caution And Silence,  Being Well To

Leeward Of The Elephants,  He Can Thus Generally Be Approached Till

Within Twelve Paces,  And He Is Then Killed By One Shot Before He Knows

Part 3 Chapter 12 (A Jungle Trip) Pg 112

That Danger Is Near. What With Our Gun-Bearers,  Trackers,  Watchers And

Ourselves,  We Were A Party Of Sixteen Persons; It Was Therefore

Impossible To Get Near A Rogue Unperceived.

 

On The Way To The Tent I Got A Shot At A Deer At Full Gallop On 'Old

Jack.' It Was A Doe,  Who Bounded Over The Plain At A Speed That Soon

Out-Distanced My Horse,  And I Took A Flying Shot From The Saddle With

One Of My No. 10 Rifles. I Did Not Get The Deer,  Although She Was Badly

Wounded,  As We Followed The Blood-Tracks For Some Distance Through Thick

Jungle Without Success.

 

This Was Altogether A Blank Day; And Having Thoroughly Disturbed This

Part Of The 'Park,' We Determined To Up Stick And Move Our Quarters On

The Following Day Towards The 'Cave,' According To The Plan That We Had

Agreed Upon For Beating The Country.

 

Dec. 3.--With The Cook And The Canteen In Company We Started At Break Of

Day,  Leaving The Servants To Pack Up And Bring The Coolies And Tents

After Us. By This Arrangement We Were Sure Of Our Breakfast Wherever We

Went,  And We Were Free From The Noise Of Our Followers,  Whose Scent

Alone Was Enough To Alarm Miles Of Country Down Wind. We Had Our Guns

All Loaded,  And Carried By Our Respective Gun-Bearers Close To The

Horses,  And,  With Banda,  Old Medima,  And A Couple Of Trackers,  We Were

Ready For Anything.

 

We Had Ridden About Six Miles When We Suddenly Came Upon Fresh

Elephant-Tracks In A Grassy Hollow,  Surrounded By Low Rocky Hills. We

Immediately Sent The Men Off Upon The Tracks,  While We Waited Upon A

High Plateau Of Rock For Their Return. They Came Back In About A Quarter

Of An Hour,  Having Found The Elephants Within Half A Mile.

 

They Were In High Lemon Grass,  And Upon Arrival At The Spot We Could

Distinguish Nothing,  As The Grass Rose Some Feet Above Our Heads. It Was

Like Shooting In The Dark,  And We Ascended Some Rising Ground To Improve

Our Position. Upon Arrival On This Spot We Looked Over An Undulating Sea

Of This Grass,  Interspersed With Rocky Hills And Small Patches Of

Forest. Across A Valley We Now Distinguished The Herd,  Much Scattered,

Going Off In All Directions. They Had Winded Us,  And Left Us But A Poor

Chance Of Catching Them In Such Ground. Of Course We Lost No Time In

Giving Chase. The Sun Was Intensely Hot--Not A Breath Of Air Was

Stirring,  And The Heat In The Close,  Parched Grass Was Overpowering.

With The Length Of Start That The Elephants Had Got,  We Were Obliged To

Follow At Our Best Pace,  Which,  Over Such Tangled Ground,  Was Very

Fatiguing; Fortunately,  However,  The Elephants Had Not Yet Seen Us,  And

They Had Accordingly Halted Now And Then,  Instead Of Going Straight Off.

 

There Were Only Four Elephants Together,  And,  By A Great Chance We Came

Up With Them Just As They Were Entering A Jungle. I Got A Shot At The

Last Elephant And Killed Him,  But The Others Put On More Steam,  And All

Separated,  Fairly Beating Us,  As We Were Almost Used Up By The Heat.

 

This Was Very Bad Luck,  And We Returned In Despair Of Finding The

Part 3 Chapter 12 (A Jungle Trip) Pg 113

Scattered Herd. We Had Proceeded Some Distance Through The High Grass,

Having Just Descended A Steep,  Rocky Hill,  When We Suddenly Observed Two

Elephants Approaching Along The Side Of The Very Hill That We Had Just

Left. Had We Remained In The Centre Of The Hill,  We Should Have Met Them

As They Advanced. One Was A Large Female,  And The Other Was Most

Probably Her Calf,  Being Little More Than Half-Grown.

 

It Was A Beautiful Sight To See The Caution With Which They Advanced,

And We Lay Down To Watch Them Without Being Seen. They Were About 200

Yards From Us,  And,  As They Slowly Advanced Along The Steep Hillside,

They Occasionally Halted,  And,  With Their Trunks Thrown Up In The Air,

They Endeavoured,  But In Vain,  To Discover The Enemy That Had So

Recently Disturbed Them. We Had The Wind All Right,  And We Now Crept

Softly Up The Hill,  So As To Meet Them At Right Angles. The Hillside Was

A Mass Of Large Rocks Overgrown And Concealed By The High Lemon Grass,

And It Was Difficult To Move Without Making A Noise,  Or Falling Into The

Cavities Between The Rocks.

 

I Happened To Be At The Head Of Our Line,  And,  Long Before I Expected

The Arrival Of The Elephants,  I Heard A Rustling In The Grass,  And The

Next Moment I Saw The Large Female Passing Exactly Opposite Me,  Within

Five Or Six Paces. I Was On Half-Cock At The Time,  As The Ground Was

Dangerous To Pass Over With A Gun On Full Cock,  But I Was Just Quick

Enough To Knock Her Over Before The High Grass Should Conceal Her At

Another Step. She Fell In A Small Chasm,  Nearly Upsetting The Young

Elephant,  Who Was Close Behind Her. Wortley Killed Him,  While I Took The

Last Kick Out Of The Old One By Another Shot,  As She Was Still Moving.

 

We Had Thus Only Killed Three Elephants Out Of The Herd,  And,  Without

Seeing More,  We Returned To The Horses.

 

On Finding Them,  We Proceeded On Our Road Towards The `Cave,' But Had

Not Ridden Above Two Miles Farther When We Again Came Upon Fresh Tracks

Of Elephants. Sending On Our Trackers Like Hounds Upon Their Path,  We

Sat Down And Breakfasted Under A Tree. We Had Hardly Finished The Last

Cup Of Coffee When The Trackers Returned,  Having Found Another Herd.

They Were Not More Than Half A Mile Distant,  And They Were Reported To

Be In Open Forest. On The Banks Of A Deep And Broad River.

 

Our Party Was Altogether Too Large For Elephant Shooting,  As We Never

Could Get Close Up To Them Without Being Discovered. .As Usual,  They

Winded Us Before We Got Near Them,  But By Quick Running We Overtook Them

Just As They Arrived On The Banks Of The River And Took To Water.

Wortley Knocked Over One Fellow Just As He Thought He Was Safe In

Running Along The Bottom Of A Deep Gully; I Floored His Companion At The

Same Moment,  Thus Choking Up The Gully,  And Six Elephants Closely Packed

Together Forded The Deep Stream. The Tops Of Their Backs And Heads Were

Alone Above Water. I Fired The Four-Ounce Into The Nape Of One

Elephant's Neck As The Herd Crossed,  And He Immediately Turned Over And

Lay Foundered In The Middle Of The River,  Which Was Sixty Or Seventy

Yards Across.