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

In The

Jungle To Our Left,  Warned Us,  That A Portion Of The Herd Had Not Yet

Quitted This Cover. We Knew That The 'Rogue' Was Somewhere Close At

Hand,  And After His Recent Defeat He Would Be Doubly On The Alert. Our

Plans Therefore Required The Greatest Vigilance.

 

There Was No Doubt As To The Proper Course To Pursue,  Which Was To Wait

Patiently Until The Whole Herd Should Have Left The Jungle And

Concentrated In The High Grass; But The Waning Daylight Did Not Permit

Of Such A Steady Method Of Proceeding. I Then Proposed That We Should

Choose Our Elephants,  Which Were Scattered In The High Grass,  And

Advance Separately To The Attack. Palliser Voted That We Should Creep Up

To The Elephants That Were In The Jungle Close To Us,  Instead Of Going

Into The High Grass.

 

I Did Not Much Like This Plan,  As I Knew That It Would Be Much Darker In

The Jungle Than In The Patina,  And There Was No Light To Spare. However,

Palliser Crept Into The Jungle,  Towards The Spot Where We Heard The

Elephants Crashing The Bushes.

 

Instead Of Following Behind Him,  I Kept Almost In A Line,  But A Few Feet

On One Side,  Otherwise I Knew That Should He Fire,  I Should See Nothing

For The Smoke Of His Shot. This Precaution Was Not Thrown Away. The

Elephants Were About Fifty Yards From The Entrance To The Jungle,  And We

Were Of Course Up To Them In A Few Minutes. 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

Part 3 Chapter 12 (A Jungle Trip) Pg 120

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. Just As We Were Thinking Of Returning Again

To The Spot That We Had Left,  We Heard A Tremendous Rush In The Bush,

Coming Straight Towards Us. In Another Instant I Saw A Mass Of Twisted

And Matted Thorns Crashing In A Heap Upon Me. I Had Barely Time To Jump

On One Side,  As The Elephant Nearly Grazed Me,  And I Fired Both Barrels

Into The Tangled Mass That He Bore Upon His Head. I Then Bolted,  And

Took Up A Good Position At A Few Yards' Distance. The Shots In The Head

Had So Completely Stunned The Elephant That She Could Not Move. She Now

Stood In A Piece Of Jungle So Dense That We Could Not See Her,  And

Palliser Creeping Up To Her,  While We Stood Ready To Back Him,  Fired

Three Shots Without The Least Effect. She Did Not Even Move,  Being

Senseless With The Wound. One Of My Men Then Gave Him My Four-Ounce

Rifle. A Loud Report From The Old Gun Sounded The Elephant's Knell,  And

Closed The Sport For That Trip.

 

We Returned To Nielgalla,  The Whole Of That Day's Bag Belonging To

Palliser--Four Elephants And Two Buffaloes. We Packed Up Our Traps,  And

Early The Next Morning We Started Direct For Newera Ellia,  Having In

Three Weeks From The Day Of Our Departure From Kandy Bagged Fifty

Elephants,  Five Deer,  And Two Buffaloes; Of Which,  Wortley Had Killed To

His Bag,  Ten Elephants And Two Deer; Palliser Sixteen Elephants And Two

Buffaloes; V. Baker,  Up To The Time Of His Leaving Us,  Two Elephants.

 

Part 3 Chapter 13 (Conclusion) Pg 121

Thus Ended A Trip,  Which Exhibited The Habits And Character Of Elephants

In A Most Perfect Manner. From The Simple Experience Of These Three

Weeks' Shooting A Novice Might Claim Some Knowledge Of The Elephant; And

The Journal Of This Tour Must At Once Explain,  Even To The Most

Uninitiated,  The Exact Proportion Of Risk With Which This Sport Is

Attended,  When Followed Up In A Sportsmanlike Manner. These Days Will

Always Be Looked Back To By Me With The Greatest Pleasure. The Moments

Of Sport Lose None Of Their Brightness By Age,  And When The Limbs Become

Enfeebled By Time,  The Mind Can Still Cling To Scenes Long Past,  With

The Pleasure Of Youth.

 

One Great Addition To The Enjoyment Of Wild Sport Is The Companionship

Of Thorough Sportsmen. A Confidence In Each Other Is Absolutely

Necessary; Without This,  I Would Not Remain A Day In The Jungle. An Even

Temper,  Not Easily Disturbed By The Little Annoyances Inseparable From A

Trip In A Wild Country,  Is Also Indispensable; Without This,  A Man Would

Part 3 Chapter 13 (Conclusion) Pg 122

Be Insufferable. Our Party Was An Emblem Of Contentment. The Day's Sport

Concluded,  The Evenings Were Most Enjoyable,  And Will Never Be

Forgotten. The Well Arranged Tent,  The Neatly-Spread Table,  The Beds

Forming A Triangle Around The Walls,  And The Clean Guns Piled In A Long

Row Against The Gun-Rack,  Will Often Recall A Tableau In After Years,  In

Countries Far From This Land Of Independence. The Acknowledged Sports Of

England Will Appear Child's