He At Length Reached The Wooded Bank Of A Dry
River, And Thick Rattan Jungle Bordered The Opposite Side; He Thought He
Was Safe, And He Plunged Down The Crumbling Bank.
We were a little too
quick for him, by taking a double turn round a tree with the slack
End
of the rope just as he descended the bank; the effect of this was to
bring him to a sudden standstill, and the stretching of the hide rope
threw him upon his knees. He recovered himself immediately, and used
extraordinary efforts to break away; tightening the rope to its utmost
length, he suddenly lifted up his tied leg and threw his whole weight
forward. Any but a hide rope of that diameter must have given way, but
this stretched like a harp-string, and at every effort to break it, the
yielding elasticity of the hide threw him upon his head, and the sudden
contraction after the fall, jerked his leg back to its full length.
After many vain, but tremendous efforts to free himself, he turned his
rage upon his pursuers, and charged everyone right and left; but he was
safely tied, and we took some little pleasure in teasing him. He had no
more chance than a fly in a spider's web. As he charged in one
direction, several nooses were thrown round his hind legs; then his
trunk was caught in a slip-knot, then his fore legs, then his neck, and
the ends of all these ropes being brought together and hauled tight, he
was effectually hobbled.
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