It Is At The First Burst Impossible To Tell Whether The Elephant Is
Coming At You Or Rushing Away.
In either case it is extremely dangerous,
as these chena jungles are almost devoid of trees; thus there is no
cover of sufficient strength to protect a man should he attempt to jump
on one side, and he may even be run over by accident.
A few moments assured us of their retreat, and we instantly followed
upon their track, running at full speed along the lane which they had
crushed in their headlong flight. This was no easy matter; the jungle
itself was certainly broken down, but innumerable hooked thorns, hanging
from rope-like creepers, which had been torn down by the rush of the
elephants, caught us upon every side. In a few minutes our clothes were
in rags, and we were bleeding from countless scratches, but we continued
the chase as fast as we could run upon the track. The prickly cactus
which abounds in these jungles, and grows to the height of twenty feet,
in some places checked us for a few moments, being crushed into a heap
by the horny-footed beasts before us. These obstacles overcome, we again
pushed on at a rapid pace, occasionally listening for a sound of the
retreating game.
We now observed that the herd had separated; the bull had gone off in
one direction, and the female with her half-grown poonchy in another.
Following the latter, we again pushed on at a quick run, as the
elephants had evidently gone off at a great pace and were far in
advance.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 74 of 343
Words from 19571 to 19841
of 91283
