In About A Quarter Of An Hour We
Distinctly Heard The Cracking Of The Dhurra Stems, As The Elephants
Browsed And Trampled Them Beneath Their Feet.
Taking the proper position of the wind, I led our party cautiously in
the direction of the sound, and in about five minutes I came in view of
the slate-colored and dusky forms of the herd.
The moon was bright, and
I counted nine elephants; they had trampled a space of about fifty yards
square into a barren level, and they were now slowly moving forward,
feeding as they went. One elephant, unfortunately, was separated from
the herd, and was about forty yards in the rear; this fellow I was
afraid would render our approach difficult. Cautioning my men,
especially Bacheet, to keep close to me with the spare rifles, I crept
along the alleys formed by the tall rows of dhurra, and after carefully
stalking against the wind, I felt sure that it would be necessary to
kill the single elephant before I should be able to attack the herd.
Accordingly I crept nearer and nearer, well concealed in the favorable
crop of high and sheltering stems, until I was within fifteen yards of
the hindmost animal. As I had never shot one of the African species, I
was determined to follow the Ceylon plan, and get as near as possible;
therefore I continued to creep from row to row of dhurra, until I at
length stood at the very tail of the elephant in the next row.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 66 of 337
Words from 17685 to 17940
of 90207
