Some Were Armed With Axes, Sharpened To The
Keenest Edge, Some With Long Spears, And Others With Regular Elephant
Ropes, Formed Of The Thongs Of Raw Deer's Hide, Beautifully Twisted.
Each Division Of Men Had A Separate Duty Allotted.
`They marched towards the small jungle in which the rogue was known to
be; but he anticipated their wishes, and before they were within a
hundred paces of his lair, he charged furiously out.
The conflict began
in good earnest. The spearmen were in advance, and the axemen were
divided into two parties, one on either flank, with an equal number of
ropemen. The instant that he charged the whole body of men ran forward
at full speed to meet him; still he continued his furious onset,
undismayed by the yells of a hundred men. The spearmen halted when
within twenty yards, then turned and fled; this had been agreed upon
beforehand. The elephant passed the two flanks of axemen in pursuit of
the flying enemy; the axemen immediately closed in behind him, led by
the husband of the murdered girl. By a well-directed blow upon the hind
leg, full of revenge, this active fellow divided the sinew in the first
joint above the foot.* (*Since this was written I have seen the African
elephant disabled by one blow of a sharp sword as described in the "Nile
Tributaries of Abyssinia.") That instant the elephant fell upon his
knees, but recovered himself directly, and endeavoured to turn upon his
pursuers; a dozen axes flashed in the sunbeams, as the strokes were
aimed at the other hind leg.
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