The Rifle And The Hound In Ceylon(Fiscle Part-3) by Sir Samuel White Baker (reading books for 4 year olds txt) 📖

The Jungle.

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 75

Briskly 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