It was a
place where you might live all your life without seeing a soul
except a wandering bee-hunter, or a native sportsman who had
ventured up from the low country to shoot an elk.
Surrounded on all sides but one with steep hills, my hunting
settlement lay snugly protected from the wind in a little valley.
A small jungle about a hundred yards square grew at the base of
one of these grassy hills, in which, having cleared the underwood
for about forty yards, I left the rarer trees standing, and
erected my huts under their shelter at the exact base of the
knoll. This steep rise broke off into an abrupt cliff about
sixty yards from my tent, against which the river had waged
constant war, and, turning in an endless vortex, had worn a deep
hole, before it shot off in a rapid torrent from the angle,
dashing angrily over the rocky masses which had fallen from the
overhanging cliff, and coming to a sudden rest in a broad deep
pool within twenty yards of the tent door.
This was a delicious spot. Being snugly hidden in the jungle,
there was no sign of my encampment from the plain, except the
curling blue smoke which rose from the little hollow. A plot of
grass of some two acres formed the bottom of the valley before my
habitation, at the extremity of which the river flowed, backed on
the opposite side by an abrupt hill covered with forest and
jungle.
This being a chilly part of Ceylon, I had thatched the walls of
my tent, and made a good gridiron bedstead, to keep me from the
damp ground, by means of forked upright sticks, two horizontal
bars and numerous cross-pieces. This was covered with six
inches' thickness of grass, strapped down with the bark of a
fibrous shrub. My table and bench were formed in the same
manner, being of course fixtures, but most substantial. The
kitchen, huts for attendants and kennel were close adjoining. I
could have lived there all my life in fine weather. I wish I was
there now with all my heart. However, I had sufficient bad luck
on my last visit to have disgusted most people. Poor Matchless,
who was as good as her name implied, died of inflammation of the
lungs; and I started one morning in very low spirits at her loss,
hoping to cheer myself up by a good hunt.
It was not long before old Bluebeard's opening note was heard
high upon the hill-tops; but, at the same time, a portion of the
pack had found another elk, which, taking an opposite direction,
of course divided them. Being determined to stick to Bluebeard
to the last, I made straight through the jungle toward the point
at which I had heard a portion of the pack join him, intending to
get upon their track and follow up. This I soon did; and after
running for some time through the jungle, which, being young
"nillho," was unmistakably crushed by the elk and hounds, I came
to a capital though newly-made path, as a single elephant, having
been disturbed by the cry of the hounds, had started off at full
speed; and the elk and hounds, naturally choosing the easiest
route through the jungle, had kept upon his track. This I was
certain of, as the elk's print sunk deep in that of the elephant,
whose dung, lying upon the spot, was perfectly hot.
I fully expected that the hounds would bring the elephant to bay,
which is never pleasant when you are without a gun; however, they
did not, but, sticking to their true game, they went straight
away toward the chain of mountains at the end of the plain. The
river, in making its exit, is checked by abrupt precipices, and
accordingly makes an angle and then descends a ravine toward the
low country.
I felt sure, from the nature of the ground and the direction of
the run, that the elk would come to bay in this ravine; and,
after half an hour's run, I was delighted, on arriving on the
hill above, to hear the bay, of the bounds in the river far
below.
The jungle was thick and tangled, but it did not take long, to
force my way down the steep mountain side, and I neared the spot
and heard the splashing in the river, as the elk, followed by the
hounds, dashed across just before I came in view. He had broken
his bay; and, presently, I again heard the chorus of voices as he
once more came to a stand a few hundred paces down the river.
The bamboo was so thick that I could hardly break my way through
it; and I was crashing along toward the spot, when suddenly the
bay ceased, and shortly after some of the hounds came hurrying up
to me regularly scared. Lena, who seldom showed a symptom of
fear, dashed up to me in a state of great excitement, with the
deep scores of a leopard's claws on her hindquarters. Only two
couple of the hounds followed on the elk's track; the rest were
nowhere.
The elk had doubled back, and I saw old Bluebeard leading upon
the scent up the bank of the river, followed by three other
bounds.
The surest, although the hardest work, was to get on the track
and follow up through the jungle. This I accordingly did for
about a mile, at which distance I arrived at a small swampy plain
in the centre of the jungle. Here, to my surprise, I saw old
Bluebeard sitting up and looking faint, covered with blood, with
no other dog within view. The truth was soon known upon
examination.
