The ground was
perfectly open, covered by small loose rocks free from grass, and the
chase commenced in good earnest. With the elephants in view the whole
time, and going at a great pace, a mile was run without the possibility
of firing a shot. By this time we had arrived at an undulating country
covered with small rocks, and grass about four feet high, which made the
pace dreadfully fatiguing; still we dared not slacken the speed for an
instant lest the elephants should distance us. This was the time for
rifles to tell, although their weight (15 lbs.) was rather trying in so
long and fast a run. I was within eighty paces of the herd, and I could
not decrease the distance by a single yard. I halted and took a shot at
the ear of a large elephant in the middle of the herd. The shot so
stunned him that, instead of going on straight, he kept turning round
and round as though running after his tail; this threw the herd into
confusion, and some ran to the right and others to the left, across some
steep hollows. Running up to my wounded elephant, I extinguished him
with my remaining barrel; and getting a spare rifle from Wallace, who
was the only gun-bearer who had kept up, I floored another elephant, who
was ascending the opposite side of a hollow about forty yards off: this
fellow took two shots, and accordingly I was left unloaded. V. had made
good play with the rifles as the herd was crossing the hollow, and he
had killed three, making six bagged in all. The remaining two elephants
reached a thick jungle and escaped.
We returned to the tent, and after a bath we sat down with a glorious
appetite to breakfast, having bagged six elephants before seven o'clock
A.M.
In the afternoon we went to the cave and sent out trackers. We were very
hard up for provisions in this place: there were no deer in the
neighbourhood, and we lived upon squirrels and parrots, both of which
are excellent eating, but not very substantial fare.
The whole of this part of the country was one dark mass of high lemon
grass, which, not having been burnt, was a tangled mixture of yellow
stalks and sharp blades, that completely destroyed the pleasure of
shooting.
In this unfavourable ground we found a herd of ten elephants, and after
waiting for some time in the hope of their feeding into a better
country, we lost all patience and resolved to go in at them and do the
best we could. It was late in the afternoon, and the herd, who were well
aware of our position, had all closed up in a dense body, and with their
trunks thrown up they were trumpeting and screaming as though to
challenge us to the attack.
Pushing our way through the high grass, we got within six paces of the
elephants before they attempted to turn, and the heavy battery opened
upon them in fine style. Levelling the grass in their path, they rushed
through it in a headlong retreat, V. keeping on one flank, while I took
the other; and a race commenced, which continued for about half a mile
at full speed, the greater part of this distance being up hill. None of
these elephants proved restive; and on arriving at thick jungle two only
entered out of the ten that had composed the herd; the remaining eight
lay here and there along the line of the hunt.
Out of four herds and three rogues fired at we had bagged thirty-one
elephants in a few days' shooting. My mishap on the first day had much
destroyed the pleasure of the sport, as the exercise was too much for my
wounded leg, which did not recover from the feeling of numbness for some
months.
CHAPTER XI.
Excitement of Elephant-shooting--An Unexpected Visitor--A Long Run with
a Buck--Hard Work Rewarded--A Glorious Bay--End of a Hard Day's
Work--Bee-hunters--Disasters of Elk-hunting--Bran Wounded--'Old Smut's'
Buck--Boar at Hackgalla--Death of `Old Smut'--Scenery from the Perewelle
Mountains--Diabolical Death of 'Merriman'--Scene of the Murder.
In describing so many incidents in elephant-shooting it is difficult to
convey a just idea of the true grandeur of the sport: it reads too easy.
A certain number are killed out of a herd after an animated chase, and
the description of the hunt details the amount of slaughter, but cannot
possibly explain the peculiar excitement which attends elephant-shooting
beyond all other sports. The size of the animal is so disproportionate
to that of the hunter that the effect of a large herd of these monsters
flying before a single man would be almost ridiculous could the chase be
witnessed by some casual observer who was proof against the excitement
of the sport. The effect of a really good elephant shot in the pursuit
of a herd over open country is very fine. With such weapons as the
double-barrelled No. 10 rifles a shot is seldom wasted; and during the
chase, an elephant drops from the herd at every puff of smoke. It is a
curious sight, and one of the grandest in the world, to see a fine rogue
elephant knocked over in full charge. His onset appears so irresistible,
and the majesty of his form so overwhelming, that I have frequently
almost mistrusted the power of man over such a beast; but one shot well
placed, with a heavy charge of powder behind the ball, reduces him in an
instant to a mere heap of flesh.
