The Young Colonists: A Story of the Zulu and Boer Wars
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while themselvesunseen, Dick and his party moved to the spot indicated, and then satdown.
For three quarters of an hour the elephants continued to feed upon theheads of maize; then the big male suddenly wheeled round, extended hisgreat ears, lifted his trunk, and trumpeted. At this signal the othersall gathered together, and stood gazing in the direction from whichdanger threatened. Again the old bull gave an angry scream. The othersmoved slowly away from the danger, but he advanced in the direction inwhich he had seen the natives.
"Very bad elephant that," Tony whispered to Dick; "he give heaps oftrouble; you see him charge."
A minute or two later the elephant, catching sight of his enemies,quickened his pace, and with his little tail switching angrily, upliftedtrunk, and widespread ears, he charged down upon them at a pace of whichDick had not supposed so cumbersome a beast would be capable.
In a moment the distant natives were seen to rise from the grass and torun at full speed back towards the wood. The elephant pursued themuntil he reached the trees; here he halted, and gazed for some time intothe wood. Then seeing no signs of the natives--for these knew betterthan to provoke so vicious a beast by firing at him--he trumpeteddefiantly, and slowly retraced his steps towards the rest of the herd.These, led by the two males, were already approaching the trees behindwhich Dick and his party were lying concealed. Before they had arrivedthere Mr Harvey and his party came up.
Dick and Tom were both carrying heavy smooth-bore guns, similar to thoseused by the Boers. These their fathers had purchased at Newcastle onthe day of their start; they were old weapons, but very strong andserviceable; they carried a heavy charge of powder and a large ball, ofa mixture of lead and tin, specially made for elephant-shooting.
"Dick fire first," Blacking whispered in his ear; "if he not kill him,then the rest of us fire."
Dick was lying down behind the trunk of a tree, his rifle steadiedagainst it; when the elephant was within a distance of twenty yards hefired, taking steady aim at the vital point. The recoil of the piecewas tremendous, and the roar of its report almost stunned him; he gave,however, a shout of delight, for the elephant stood for half a minuteswaying from side to side, and then fell heavily upon the ground.
Mr Harvey had given Tom the first shot at the other elephant; but, justat the moment when the lad was about to fire, the elephant gave a suddenstart at the report of Dick's rifle, and Tom's shot struck it at theside of the head and glancing off passed through its ear. Throwing upits trunk, the elephant instantly charged. Mr Harvey fired, but theuplifted trunk prevented his getting an accurate aim at the vital spot.The bullet passed through the trunk, and then glanced off the forehead.The elephant swerved and showed its side, at which a general volley wasfired by all the guns still loaded. The great beast stood still for aninstant, stumbled forward a few strides, and then its legs seemed tobend beneath it, and it sank down quietly to the ground.
Just at this moment, as the affrighted cows were turning to fly acrossthe plain, there was a thundering rush, and the great elephant chargedthrough them, and passing between the dead males dashed into the wood.Its rush was so sudden and headlong that it carried the elephant pastthe men standing behind the trees; but it speedily checked itself, andturning round made a rush upon them. There was an instant stampede.Most of the natives at once threw away their guns; some climbed hastilyup into the trees against which they were standing; others took to thebushes. The elephant charged in after these, but seeing no signs ofthem he speedily came out again and looked round for a fresh foe. Hiseye fell upon Dick, who had just recharged his rifle.
"Run, Dick! run!" shouted Mr Harvey.
But Dick saw that the elephant was upon him, while the tree near whichhe was standing was too thick to climb. The elephant was holding hishead so high that Dick could not aim at the spot on the forehead, but,waiting until the animal was within ten yards of him, he fired into itsopen mouth, and then leapt behind the tree. With a scream of pain theelephant rushed on, but being unable to check himself he came full buttwith tremendous force against the tree, which quivered under the blow,and Dick, thinking that it was going to fall upon him, sprang back apace. Three or four more shots were fired before the elephant couldturn, and then wheeling round it charged upon its new assailants.
Tom was one of those nearest to him; the boy had just discharged hisrifle and advanced a few feet from the tree behind which he had beenstanding. Before he could regain it he felt something pass round him,there was a tremendous squeeze, which stopped his breath and seemed topress his life out of him, then he felt himself flying high into theair, and became insensible.
Apparently satisfied with what he had done, the elephant continued hisrapid pace into the open again, and followed the retreating herd acrossthe plain.
Dick had given a cry of horror, as he saw the elephant seize his friend,and his heart seemed to stand still when he saw him whirled high in theair. Tom fell into a thick and bushy tree, and there, breaking throughthe light foliage at the top, remained suspended in the upper boughs.
In an instant Jumbo climbed the tree, and making his way to the ladlifted him from the fork in which he was wedged, placed him on hisshoulder as easily as if he had been a child, and descending the treelaid him on the ground by the side of Mr Harvey. The latter at onceknelt beside him.
"Thank God, he is breathing!" he exclaimed at once. "Lift his head,Dick; open his shirt, Blacking; and give me some water out of yourgourd. I trust he is only stunned; that brute was in such a hurry thathe had not time to squeeze him fairly, and the tree has broken his fall.If he had come down to the ground from that height, it must have killedhim."
He sprinkled some water upon the lad's face and chest, and to his andDick's delight Tom presently opened his eyes. He looked round in asurprised and half-stupid way, and then made an effort to rise, but acry broke from him as he did so.
"Lie still, Tom," Mr Harvey said; "you are hurt, but, I hope, notseverely. Cut his shirt off, Dick; I expect some of his ribs arebroken."
Upon Mr Harvey carefully feeling Tom's ribs, he found, as he hadexpected, that five of them were broken--three on one side and two onthe other.
"Some of your ribs are damaged, Tom," he said cheerfully; "but that isof no great consequence; they all seem pretty fairly in their places.Now I will bandage you tightly, so as to keep them there, and then wewill carry you back to the waggons and nurse you until they growtogether again; young bones soon heal, and in a week or ten days youwill, I hope, be able to travel again; you had a close shave of it. Inever met a more savage beast than that bull-elephant in all myexperience."
CHAPTER TWELVE.
AN ATTACK BY ELEPHANTS.
A litter was speedily constructed from some boughs of trees, and Tombeing placed in it was at once carried back to the camp, escorted by hisfriend. The hunters remained behind to cut out the tusks of the twoelephants that had fallen. A portion of the trunks and feet, which areconsidered the most delicate portions of the elephant, was laid asidefor the use of the white men, and a large quantity of meat was broughtback to camp for the natives.
The sound of firing had brought up some people from a small village twoor three miles away, and these to their immense joy were allowed tocarry off enough meat to enable them to feast to the utmost extent oftheir ability for a week to come.
Mr Harvey had in the course of his wanderings frequently had occasionto dress wounds and bandage broken bones; he was therefore able to applythe necessary bandages to Tom, and the lad was soon lying in comparativeease on a bed formed of rags. Generally the boys slept in hammocks, butMr Harvey insisted that Tom must lie perfectly straight on his backuntil the bones had begun to set again.
"We made a sad mess with that old bull to-day, Dick," he said. "It ishumiliating to think that he should have charged us all, injured Tom,and got away almost unscathed."
"You see, sir," Dick said, "he attacked us unexpectedly; our guns wereall discharged, and he came on with such a rush that there was nogetting a
steady shot at him. The whole affair lasted little more thana minute, I should say."
"I shall go out to-morrow morning," Mr Harvey said, "and take up thetrack again, and see if I cannot get even with the beast. There is timeenough to-day, for it is still early, but the herd will be so restlessand suspicious that there will be no getting near them, and I should notcare to face that old bull unless I had a fair chance of killing him atthe first shot. He has a magnificent pair of tusks, and ivory sells sohigh that they would be worth a good deal of trouble and some risk toget."
"Shall I go with you, sir?"
"No, Dick, I would rather you did not. The business will be moredangerous than usual, and I should not like the responsibility of havingyou with me. Tom had as narrow a shave yesterday as ever I saw, and Icertainly do not want two of you on my hands."
Dick was not sorry at Mr