Dec. 6.-We Started At Our Usual Early Hour With Banda And The
Trackers, And After A Walk Of About A Mile, We Found Fresh Tracks And
Followed Up.
Crossing a small river upon the track, we entered a fine
open forest, through which the herd had only just passed, and upon
following them for about a quarter of a mile, we came to a barrier of
dense chenar jungle, into which the elephants had retreated.
There was a rogue with this herd, and we were rather doubtful of his
position. We stood in the open forest, within a few feet of the thick
jungle, to the edge of which the elephants were so close that we could
hear their deep breathing; and by stooping down we could distinguish the
tips of their trunks and feet, although the animals themselves were
invisible. We waited about half an hour in the hope that some of the
elephants might again enter the open forest; at length two, neither of
whom were above five feet high, came out and faced us. My dress of
elastic green tights had become so browned by constant washing and
exposure, that I matched exactly with the stem of a tree against which I
was leaning, and one of the elephants kept advancing towards me until I
could nearly touch him with my rifle; still he did not see me, and I did
not wish to fire, as I should alarm the herd, which would then be lost
for ever. Unfortunately, just at this moment, the other elephant saw
Palliser, and the alarm was given. There was no help for it, and we were
obliged to fire. Mine fell dead, but the other fell, and, recovering
himself immediately, he escaped in the thick jungle.
This was bad luck, and we returned towards the 'amblam' to breakfast. On
our way there we found that the 'rogue' had concealed himself in a piece
of thick jungle, backed by hills of very high lemon grass. From this
stronghold we tried to drive him, and posted ourselves in a fine
position to receive him should he break cover; but he was too cunning to
come out, and the beaters were too knowing to go in to drive such bad
jungle; it was, therefore, a drawn game, and we were obliged to leave
him.
When within a short distance of the 'amblam', a fine black partridge got
up at about sixty yards. I was lucky enough to knock him over with a
rifle, and still more fortunate in not injuring him much with the ball,
which took his wing off close to his body. Half an hour afterwards he
formed part of our breakfast.
During our meal a heavy shower of rain came down, and continued for
about two hours.
In the afternoon we sallied out, determined to shoot at any large game
that we might meet. We had lately confined our sport to elephants, as we
did not wish to disturb the country by shooting at other game; but
having fired in this neighbourhood during the morning, we were not very
particular.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 168 of 177
Words from 86333 to 86852
of 91283
