Prison-walls; lashing itself into
foam in its mad frenzy, it forms rapids of giddy velocity through
the rocky bounds; now flying through a narrowed gorge, and
leaping, striving and wrestling with unnumbered obstructions, it
at length meets with the mighty fall, like death in a madman's
course. One plunge! without a single shelf to break the fall,
and down, down it sheets; at first like glass, then like the
broken avalanche of snow, and lastly! - we cannot see more - the
mist boils from the ruin of shattered waters and conceals the
bottom of the fall. The roar vibrates like thunder in the rocky
mountain, and forces the grandeur of the scene through every
nerve.
No animal or man, once in those mysterious pools, could ever
escape without assistance. Thus in years post, when elk were not
followed up in this locality, the poor beast, being hard pressed
by the hounds, might have come to bay in one of these fatal
basins, in which case, both he and every bound who entered the
trap found sure destruction.
The hard work and the danger to both man and bound in this
country may be easily imagined when it is explained that the
nature of the elk prompts him to seek for water as his place of
refuge when hunted; thus he makes off down the mountain for the
river, in which he stands at bay. Now the mountain itself is
steep enough, but within a short distance of the bottom the river
is in many places guarded by precipices of several hundred feet
in depth. A few difficult passes alone give access to the
torrent, but the descent requires great caution.
Altogether, this forms the wildest and most arduous country that
can be imagined for hunting, but it abounds with elk.
The morning was barely gray when I woke up the servants and
ordered coffee, and made the usual preparations for a start. At
last, thank goodness! the boots are laced! This is the
troublesome part of dressing before broad daylight, and
nevertheless laced ankle-boots must be worn as a protection
against sprains and bruises in such a country. Never mind the
trouble of lacing them; they, are on now, and there is a good
day's work in store for them.
It was the 30th May, 1853, a lovely hunting morning and a fine
dew on the patinas; rather too windy, but that could not be
helped.
Quiet now! - down, Bluebeard! - back, will you, Lucifer! Here's a
smash! there goes the jungle kennel! the pack squeezing out of it
in every direction as they hear the preparations for departure.
Now we are all right; ten couple out, and all good ones. Come
along, yo-o-i, along here! and a note on the horn brings the pack
close together as we enter the forest on the very summit of the
ridge. Thus the start was completed just as the first tinge of
gold spread along the eastern horizon, about ten minutes before
sunrise.
The jungles were tolerably good, but there were not as many elk
tracks as I had expected; probably the high wind on the ridge had
driven them lower down for shelter; accordingly I struck an
oblique direction downward, and I was not long before I
discovered a fresh track; fresh enough, certainly, as the thick
moss which covered the ground showed a distinct path where the
animal had been recently feeding.
Every hound had stolen away; even the greyhounds buried their
noses in the broad track of the buck, so fresh was the scent; and
I waited quietly for "the find." The greyhounds stood round me
with their cars cocked and glistening eyes, intently listening
for the expected sound.
There they are! all together, such a burst! They must have stolen
away mute and have found on the other side the ridge, for they
were now coming down at full speed from the very summit of the
mountain.
>From the amount of music I knew they had a good start, but I had
no idea that the buck would stand to such a pack at the very
commencement of the hunt. Nevertheless there was a sudden bay
within a few hundred yards of me, and the elk had already turned
to fight. I knew that he was an immense fellow from his track,
and I at once saw that he would show fine sport.
Just as I was running through the jungle toward the spot, the bay
broke and the buck had evidently gone off straight away, as I
heard the pack in full cry rapidly increasing their distance and
going off down the mountain.
Sharp following was now the order of the day, and away we went.
The mountain was so steep that it was necessary every now and
then to check the momentum of a rapid descent by clinging to the
tough saplings. Sometimes one would give way and a considerable
spill would be the consequence. However, I soon got out on the
patina about one-third of the way down the mountain, and here I
met one of the natives, who was well posted. Not a sound of the
pack was now to be heard; but this man declared most positively
that the elk had suddenly changed his course, and, instead of
keeping down the hill, had struck off to his left along the side
of the mountain. Accordingly, off I started as hard as I could
go with several natives, who all agreed as to the direction.
After running for about a mile along the patinas in the line
which I judged the pack had taken, I heard one hound at bay in a
narrow jungle high up on my left. It was only the halt of an
instant, for the next moment I heard the same hound's voice
evidently running on the other side of the strip of jungle, and
taking off down the mountain straight for the dreaded river.
