Caesar: The Life Story of a Panda-Leopard

by Patrick O'Brian

  All this only took about half a minute, however, but I had time to back out without being seen, for I had never seen any animal like this who could dodge the fastest thing in the jungle.

  From my place up a tree which I climbed, I saw him follow my tracks round the rock towards me. Then I lost sight of him, but feeling uneasy I left my tree and concealed myself in the rushes.

  Soon I saw him come out of the brushwood, bent double and staring around him. Then he saw a place where I had put my foot in a little patch of mud. He ran to it, and after inspecting it some time he rose with a little whistle of surprise, and disappeared again in the bushes.

  Soon after that I came out, feeling hungry. As I have said before, the rock on which I had been lying was over a small pool, and now as it was evening I hoped that some game might come down to drink. So, hiding near the banks, I waited.

  In about half an hour there came a sounder of pigs led by a vast boar. Having had some little experience of these boars I knew that it would be better not to touch him or his family, so I let them alone.

  Then the pigs began to drink. A few minutes passed, and with a roar a large tiger leapt out of the bushes opposite to me, and the pigs scattered.

  One little one ran straight to me, and I secured it without any noise. All the pigs fled except the boar, who stood facing the tiger who, after circling around for a moment, charged.

  The boar with great speed leaped to one side, at the same time getting in a blow with his long tusks which opened up the skin from the tiger’s shoulder to half way down the ribs. Then before he could recover the boar had swung round and gored him again.

  The tiger roared and began to circle round slowly and cautiously — and then he leapt. The boar was too slow, and lost part of his right shoulder. The tiger retreated and continued these tactics for some time, circling and dashing in and back again.

  After a while the boar was a sorry sight; all his head and shoulders were bleeding and the blood obscured his vision.

  The tiger suddenly leapt in again, but he over-reached himself, missing his mark as he struck, and the boar, with a grunt, lowered his head, and with lightning speed ripped up the tiger.

  As he fell, the boar with one great raking thrust completely disembowelled his adversary, who lay kicking on the ground. The boar drew off and soon the tiger’s struggles ceased and he lay dead.

  Then the boar crawled away into the bushes opposite me, and soon after I saw two jackals near the place. In a few moments five more had come, and from the sky the vultures and crows were coming.

  Soon I had finished my pig, and I walked out into the open.

  As soon as they saw me the cloud of crows and vultures rose and settled on all the trees around. I looked at the tiger’s body and saw beside the main wounds innumerable others all over him.

  Having inspected the tiger I went farther south on the trail of some deer. I followed this trail along through what seemed like a beaten track or path until I came to a kind of cross-roads, where another set of deer tracks converged on to the main one. Further along still, I found some more which led into it, and I could tell by the scent that I was coming near to the deer.

  Then quite suddenly the sun set and the afterglow set in, and after about five minutes the darkness began to close in.

  A month ago I would have been looking for a sleeping-place, but now, oddly enough, I took little notice, for I was growing up and knew that the hunting time for the big carnivores is the night.

  I saw the fireflies dancing in among the grasses in front of me, and vaguely I wondered where they got the light from. As I travelled along the deer trails I began to notice a scent in the air which I did not recognise, and as I progressed the smell grew more powerful, until at last I knew I must be very near the beast, whatever it was.

  Then breaking through some bushes (I had left the path in my curiosity) I emerged into a clearance, where I saw a huge black shape standing still in a corner.

  It was an elephant, and what is more it was a rogue elephant, or a mad one which had been driven from the herd. It raised its trunk as it caught my scent, and seemed puzzled.

  Then the moon rose and showed me up. He saw me, and I saw that his little red eyes glittered in the pale light, which also shone on his huge tusks. All at once the great beast came at me with its trunk curled in the air, as fast as the forest fire and as silent as a snake. With its great ears spread wide it was on me before I had time to spring properly, and I received a shattering blow in the side from the powerful trunk which knocked me into a thorn bush.

  I roared with pain, but I had barely time to scramble to my feet when the elephant turned and charged again. This time I managed to claw my way on to his great broad neck, and there I endeavoured to tear him to small pieces.

  I had reckoned without the trunk, however, which flicked me off like a mosquito, and I fell to the ground with a thump. Feeling very dazed as I struggled to my feet, I heard the elephant charge on for a little way. Then he stopped and, turning, began to search for me.

  I kept quite still, hoping that he would miss me. As the elephant came nearer I noticed something moving in the bushes near me, and the elephant saw it too for he turned off towards it with a rush.

  A large black panther leapt out into the clearing, his tail switching his sides.

  I knew there must be something wrong with him. Then in the moonlight I saw that his flanks were full of arrows. The two mad beasts stood glaring for a second, and then the elephant, trumpeting shrilly, charged. The panther sprang straight up at his face, but was seized at once in a grip of iron by the elephant’s trunk, whirled aloft, and dashed with a sickening thud against a tree. The elephant then knelt on the body, breaking every bone in it, and gored it with his tusks, which showed red in the moonlight.

  I did not stay any longer, but slipped noiselessly away. The wind was blowing in my direction, and I knew that he would not scent me.

  I quickly regained the path made by the deer, and feeling very stiff and bruised I sat down under the cover of a bush and licked myself all over, pulling out many thorns from my body, after which I felt better and continued to follow my original trail.

  After some time I came to a large river where all the tracks disappeared, and I saw that the herds must have crossed here.

  I did not feel up to crossing the broad stream, so I turned back along the path by which I had come until I came to another track which crossed the main one. This I followed up, and at last I came upon a sambhur doe sleeping; and creeping round a tree near her I climbed it, and I was able by crawling along an overhanging branch to spring straight on to her back, and I despatched her at once.

  I made my meal where I was, and having gorged my fill I reascended the tree, and finding a comfortable crotch about twenty feet from the ground, I watched the glowing eyes of the jackals close in round the remnants of my feast.

  Seven

  Some weeks passed quite peacefully after my elephant adventure before anything noteworthy happened. I was living in my cave at the time and feeding to a large extent upon the villagers’ herds.

  They increased their guard, but the men were afraid of me, and most of them ran on seeing me; also, they had no sense of smell, and as they themselves smelt quite strongly I had a great advantage over them.

  But they were able on their part to pick up stones and make them fly in rather a puzzling manner, though the worst of all were the arrows which I often broke off short, and the points remained in me and rankled.

  At last it appeared that the head man of the village became so angry at losing his cattle that he sent for the white men who lived in a small town twenty miles south. He had asked them to kill a tiger, for none of them had seen me for any length of time. So when the beaters and elephants came upon me in a lot of elephant grass they were evidently surprised to find me so large (as I had been growing very fast and was as large as a very big tiger).

  On seeing the elephants I was much alarmed, but seeing there was no possible mean
s of escape I charged the nearest, hoping to take him by surprise.

  I sprang high on to his shoulder, and there I saw the little brown man who had tracked me nearly a month ago. He struck at me with an iron rod, but missed, and I knocked him off the elephant’s back.

  Then I heard a terrific bang, and turning I saw another man in a kind of hut, and in his hands was one of the shiny sticks with which I had been hurt before.

  This man was quite white, rather like a dead man, and behind him was another, pointing his stick at me.

  I sprang at him. I saw the flash and heard the deafening boom again. Then something hit me on the top of my head, and the world seemed to spin round and I heard the trumpeting of the elephant very faintly, and then I remember nothing more.

  When my sense returned I was stretched on the ground, and there was a circle of white men standing around me. One said: ‘A queer sort of tiger, isn’t it?’

  ‘I think it’s a sort of overgrown snow-leopard myself,’ replied the young man who had shot me.

  Then I moved and they were much alarmed. ‘Look out — the thing's only stunned,’ said one.

  ‘Get those bear nets — take it alive,’ rejoined another.

  I half rose — giddy and sick, but a man behind me brought down the heavy end of a stick on my head, and I lost consciousness again in a world of stars.

  When I came round again I was enveloped in yards and yards of stout net tied at the top with a rope. I kicked and bit at the nets, but it was of no use, so I stopped.

  Some men approached me with long poles. I struggled to get at them, but they were not in the least alarmed. And coming nearer they thrust the poles under the net, and each man taking hold of one pole-end they carried me roaring and struggling towards the place where the elephants were standing.

  This caused me considerable alarm, but the elephants, who actually appeared to be obeying the men, took very little notice of me, except one of the little elephants who was trumpeting.

  I was conveyed to a small thing that resembled a box mounted on circular discs which went round, and I afterwards found out it was a cart.

  After a while I lay still, and after that I smelt some bullocks, which the men were driving towards me. Soon the cart began to move, to my surprise, for I saw no legs on it. However, the mystery was soon solved, for I twisted round and saw that the bullocks were dragging it along.

  We soon came to a village, and hundreds of people came out to look at me. They retired hurriedly when I roared.

  Soon they became bolder, and one young man got a long stick and poked me with it, and another threw a stone at me.

  Presently, however, one of the white men came out of a hut and drove them away.

  Then the journey recommenced, and I was jolted over about ten miles before we came to a halt again.

  Night was approaching, and I was beginning to wonder if we would ever stop when one of the men who was leading the bullocks trod on a dust snake and expired on the spot, to my great glee.

  The party stopped, and as night was falling they drew up all the carts in a wide circle, in the centre of which the elephants and bullocks were put, evidently for protection against tigers or panthers, which were very abundant in this region.

  Over my cart they fastened several logs, so that it was impossible for me to get out. However, I tried till morning, flinging myself against the sides and the logs, and I roared myself hoarse, so that the ten men who were posted by the cart appeared somewhat concerned for their own safety.

  Once I cracked a board in the side of the cart and the effect was magical. Men left me in a body, going to the tents and huts which they had erected, and they set up a chattering which would have done credit to the largest band of monkeys.

  Finally they came back with more pieces of wood with which they strengthened the sides of the cart.

  When they had done this they retired still chattering.

  When morning came I was very hot and tired, and when the cart began to move again I felt very bruised and battered, and as we journeyed until midday I was feeling remarkably savage when eventually we stopped in the street of a large village.

  Here the party scattered, and I was driven with the elephants to the house of one of the white men, where many people came out to look at me. Soon the men with the poles reappeared, and after untying the logs they got me out. After carrying me past the house they went into a large courtyard, where they dropped me heavily and banged a huge door.

  This courtyard was paved with stones and it had walls on every side rising twenty feet. One of the walls was also the side of the house, and had holes in it, at all of which were faces of people looking at me.

  I struggled with the nets for quite three-quarters of an hour with no success before I saw the gate open, and the young man whom I had attacked on the back of the elephant came in with a long stick at the end of which was a knife, which he stretched forward and with which after a few moments he managed to cut the ropes, after which he retired hurriedly.

  In about five minutes I disentangled myself. After pacing round and round the enclosure I tried to jump the walls, but it was impossible; so after knocking myself about a good deal I stopped, feeling extremely angry.

  Soon I saw some men at one of the holes and they were holding a small pig which squealed, which they lowered down with a rope, and it ran round and round my enclosure.

  I killed it almost at once, and taking it to a dark corner I consumed it, as I had had no food for two days. After which I snatched a little sleep and then felt calmer.

  I was soon awakened by the chattering of some monkeys on the walls, after which night fell and I dozed off.

  I did not sleep at all well, however, and I dreamt of elephants and guns in which my mother seemed mixed up.

  Just after daybreak a number of children began throwing stones from one of the holes in the wall, and this made me exceedingly angry, and roaring I jumped up at the holes. I had never jumped so high as I did that time, and although I did not actually reach the hole I alarmed them so that they did not appear again.

  In about an hour I saw two men with a small pig again, which they lowered, which, however, was tied this time by one leg. I darted at it hoping to snatch it away before it had time to recover.

  As soon as I reached it, however, a net fell over me which was drawn rapidly together by a cord from the bottom, and I was trapped again.

  Eight

  Then the door of the courtyard opened and the brown men with their poles came in. They carried me through into the house along several passages and at length into a great hall down the sides of which many cages with animals were placed, and one of the animals saw me — it was a panther.

  He roared and I roared back at him, and then a brown bear joined in, and in a few moments the whole place was in an uproar. But above all I heard the mocking bellow of an alligator.

  They carried me to an empty cage and pushed me through the door, untying the net through the bars. I was between a bear on one side and a grey ape on the other, both of which renewed their noise immediately. I was almost too dispirited to answer, but I showed what I thought of them quite plainly.

  Soon, however, the noises died down, and retiring to a heap of straw I slept, for I was quite worn out.

  On the next morning I awoke with a start, expecting to see the sun as usual coming through the open door of my cave, but there was no light at all in the cold grey room, and I despaired of ever seeing the sun and feeling the cool wind again.

  To pass the time I began pacing up and down my cage, up and down with just the same number of steps, and the monotonous regularity of the bars in front of me whichever way I turned appalled me.

  My impotence and wretchedness filled me with a mad unreasoning rage, and I tore round and round the cage roaring like a mad beast.

  The other occupants of the room were all aroused by the din which I made, and together we created a horrible uproar which, however, soon subsided, and I resumed my pacing up and down.
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  I noticed that the ape in the cage next to me was climbing up and down a rope and swinging to and fro. I stopped and watched him for a while. First he climbed up the rope, poked his hand out between the bars, and took some straw from a box which was balanced on the top of the cage. Then he came down again and put his handful on a heap which he had already collected. He did this several times until he had gathered enough to make a comfortable bed into which he burrowed, only to come out again in about five minutes and move the whole lot to another corner.

  My attention was soon drawn from the ape as a man came in pushing a little cart in front of him, on which were some large pieces of meat.

  When the man entered all the animals began to get very excited. They ran up and down and roared and growled. I saw the man take one of the pieces of meat and put it on an iron hook and thrust it into the panther’s cage, then he shook it off. Then he passed down the line of cages, feeding all the animals. He began to get nearer to me, and I saw the bear in an absolute frenzy of anticipation. The man opened a little door in my cage and thrust in a piece of meat.

  I hurled myself at the bars trying to get at him. The meat was hardly eatable, it smelt strongly of man and had hardly any blood in it.

  The man passed on to the ape and gave him some food, then going back to the end of the hall he opened a little door in the back of the panther’s cage by pulling a little rope in front. The panther went out at the back.

  Having done this to nearly all the cages he came to the bear, who went out as if used to it; and soon his cage was clean. The man passed by me and went out at the end of the room, returning shortly with a little cart with bowls of water. When he gave me mine I hurled myself so violently against the bars that I knocked it into his face, and he hurriedly passed on to the ape.

  Later the man brought in a great deal more straw, which he put into the cages. I could not see where the animals went, and most of them seemed to have so little spirit that none of them attempted to escape.