It Poured All Night,
And When We Started Off On Foot At Sunrise The Next Morning We Found
The Track In The Forest A Regular Quagmire; In Places We Waded Through
Mud Up To Our Knees.
As we scrambled and floundered through the mud
at our best pace we heard a great crashing noise just in front of us,
and the air resounded with cries of "Gajah, gajah!" (elephant).
I was
just in time to see a large elephant tear by. It literally seemed to
fly, and knocked down small trees as if they were grass. It seemed
greatly frightened, and made a sort of coughing noise. It went by so
quickly that I was unable to see whether it had tusks or not.
After about three hours' hard tramping, I caught sight of a high
mass of white limestone gleaming through the trees. It made a pretty
picture in the early morning, the white rock peeping out of luxuriant
creepers and foliage. It rises very abruptly from the surrounding
forest, and at a distance looked quite inaccessible to a climber.
We waded through a stream of clear water, washing the horrible forest
mud from off us, and soon found ourselves in a most picturesque
village at the very base of the rock. We disturbed quite a crowd of
native girls bathing in a spring, and they seemed very much alarmed
and surprised at seeing two Europeans suddenly turn the corner. Out
of season I don't believe any one lives in this village except some
watchers at the mouths of the eaves to guard against thieves.
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