Here the strong gale
gave him our scent. It was a beautiful sight to see him halt in
an instant, snuff the warning breeze and, drawing up to his full
height, and wind the enemy before him.
Just at this moment I heard old "Bluebeard's" deep note swelling
in the distance, and I saw him leading across the table-land as
true as gold upon the track; "Ploughboy" and "Gaylass" were both
with him but they were running mute.
The buck heard the hounds as well as we did, and I was afraid
that the whole pack would also catch the sound, and by hurrying
toward it, would head the elk him from his course. Up to the
present time and turn they had not observed him.
Still the buck stood in an attitude of acute suspense. He winded
an enemy before him and he heard another behind, which was
rapidly closing up, and, as though doubting his own power of
scent, he gave preference to that of hearing, and gallantly
continued his course and entered the second ravine just beneath
our feet.
I immediately jumped up, and, exciting the hounds in a subdued
voice, I waved my cap at the spot, and directed a native to run
at full speed to the jungle to endeavor to meet the elk, as I
knew the hounds would then follow him. This they did; and they
all entered the jungle with the man except the three greyhounds,
"Lucifer," "Bran" and "Hecate," who remained with me.
A short time passed in breathless suspense, during which the
voices of the three following hounds rapidly approached as they
steadily persevered in the long chase; when suddenly, as I had
expected, the main body of the pack met the elk in the strip of
jungle.
Joyful must have been the burst of music to the ears of old
"Bluebeard" after his long run. Out crashed the buck upon the
patinas near the spot where the pack had entered, and away he
went over the grassy hills at a pace which soon left the hounds
behind. The greyhounds will stretch his legs for him. Yo-i-ck
to him, Lucifer! For-r-r-ard to him, Hecate !
Off dashed the three greyhounds from my side at a railway pace,
but, as the buck was above them and had a start of about two
hundred yards, in such an uphill race both Bran and Lucifer
managed to lose sight of him in the undulations.
Now was the time for Hecate's enormous power of loin and thigh to
tell, and, never losing a moment's view of her game, she sped up
the steep mountain side and was soon after seen within fifty
yards of the brick all alone, but going like a rocket.
Now she has turned him ! that pace could not last up hill, and
round the elk doubled and came flying down the mountain side.
>From the point of the hill upon which we stood we had a splendid
view of the course; the bitch gained upon him at every bound, and
there was a pitiless dash in her style of going that boded little
mercy to her game. What alarmed me, however, was the direction
that the buck was taking. An abrupt precipice of about two
hundred and fifty feet was lying exactly in his path; this sunk
sheer down to a lower series of grass-lands.
At the tremendous pace at which they were going I feared lest
their own impetus should carry both elk and dog to destruction
before they could see the danger.
Down they flew with unabated speed; they neared the precipice,
and a few more seconds would bring them to the verge.
The stride of the buck was no match for the bound of the
greyhound: the bitch was at his flanks, and he pressed along at
flying speed.
He was close to the danger and it was still unseen: a moment more
and "Hecate" sprang at his ear. Fortunately she lost her hold as
the ear split. This check saved her. I shouted, "He'll be
over!" and the next instant he was flying through the air to
headlong destruction.
Bounding from a projecting rock upon which he struck, he flew
outward, and with frightfully increasing momentum he spun round
and round in his descent, until the centrifugal motion drew out
his legs and neck as straight as a line. A few seconds of this
multiplying velocity and - crash!
It was all over. The bitch had pulled up on the very brink of
the precipice, but it was a narrow escape.
Sportsmen are contradictory creatures. If that buck had come to
bay, I should have known no better sport than going in at him
with the knife to the assistance of the pack; but I now felt a
great amount of compassion for the poor brute who had met so
terrible a fate. It did not seem fair; and yet I would not have
missed such a sight for anything. Nothing can be conceived more
terribly grand than the rush of so large an animal through the
air; and it was a curious circumstance that within a few days no
less than two bucks had gone over precipices, although I had
never witnessed one such an accident more than once before.
Upon reaching the fatal spot, I, of course, found him lying stone
dead. He had fallen at least two hundred and fifty feet to the
base of the precipice; and the ground being covered with detached
fragments of rock, he had broken most of his bones, beside
bursting his paunch and smashing in the face. However, we cut
him up and cleaned him, and, with the native followers heavily
laden, we reached the tent.
