Across India; Or, Live Boys in the Far East
Page 29
CHAPTER XXVII
VARIOUS COMBATS IN THE GUICOWAR'S ARENA
The party remained a week at the palace of the Guicowar, and every day hada new pleasure or recreation. The king was as familiar with all the membersas though they had belonged to his own household. He was sociable withthem, and they ceased to be embarrassed in his presence. Even Mrs. Blossomno longer trembled before him, and he was as jolly with the boys as thoughhe had been one of them.
On the day after the Sowari the gentlemen of the party were conducted tothe arena of the elephants, which was a large enclosure, reminding thosewho had seen them of the bull-rings of Spain. It was surrounded bybuildings; and on one side, behind a wall, was a vast area of elevatedground from which the people of the town could witness the scenes presentedin the arena.
The ladies of the party had made the acquaintance of those of their own sexin the household, and the sports of the day had been discussed among them.On this day it was to be an elephant fight. The native women did notattend, for they never took part in any public affair. Mrs. Belgrave, assoon as she learned the nature of the entertainment, promptly declined tobe present at it, and the others were of the same mind.
To make the best of it, it was a brutal sport. The elephant is a noblebeast, so intelligent that he deserves the consideration of man; and tothem it seemed barbarous to set them fighting, even if the animals hadbelligerent instincts, though they never displayed them in theirdomesticated condition unless under strong provocation. Some of thegentlemen regarded the exhibition as but little better than a prize-fight;though they all attended the occasion, for the more sensitive ones thoughtit would be impolite to decline the invitation, especially as theexhibition was got up especially for them.
They were ushered into a large apartment, one side of which consisted oflofty arches, through which the display could be witnessed. At either endof the arena was chained a monster male elephant. A number of femaleelephants were on an elevation near it; and it seemed as though they wereplaced there for the same reason that the ladies were admitted to thetournaments of the knights in England and France. It was said that thesefemales had a decided taste for such fights, and possibly the sight of themstimulated the male combatants.
There were a number of men, very slightly clothed, in the ring, who seemedlike the _chulos_ of the Spanish arena, though their functions couldhardly be the same; and there were many openings in the walls through whichthey could escape, instead of leaping over the fence, as the bull-fightersdo. Some of them were armed with lances, and others with a stick withfireworks at the end.
The Guicowar entered the spectators' apartment, which was already wellfilled with nobles and the foreigners. He was dressed in white linen, withan elegant cap on his head. He had a fine athletic form, and wore a shortbeard. He was not inclined to take the special arm-chair assigned to him,but walked about, speaking to his guests, not omitting the boys, to whom heappeared to have taken a fancy.
His Highness gave a signal, at which the mahouts took their places on thenecks of the big beasts, and the chains which secured the combatants werecast off. The monsters roared, and, with their trunks elevated, advanced tothe affray. They increased their speed as they came nearer to each other.They rushed together, as Scott expressed it, "head on," and the strangersseemed to feel the shock through their nerves. It was so violent the beastsdropped upon their knees forward.
Then they began to twist their trunks together, and buck with their tusks.For some minutes the giants wrestled together, but the combat proved to beof brief duration. The party could see that one of them was getting theworst of it, and was inclined to "hedge." In fact, he had had enough of it;but he was too wise to abandon his tactics when it was time for him toretreat. Mustering all his power, he made a desperate effort, and succeededin forcing the other back enough to turn his huge body without exposing hisflank to the tusks of the enemy, and then beat a hasty retreat.
The vanquished brute was removed from the arena, and the victor remainedalone on the field he had won; but he had only come to the beginning of histroubles, for there was a second act to the affair. The men, who were armedwith whips, fireworks, red cloths, and other instruments of torment,assailed him. They pricked him with the javelins, shook the red banners inhis face, and fizzed the pyrotechnics before his eyes. They tormented thepoor creature till he was furious. He had no adequate weapon for thisunequal and unfair warfare.
He chased one assailant and then another, being as often turned aside fromhis intended victims by the thorning of the other tormentors. As he becamea little more accustomed to the game, he ceased to be diverted from hisvictim and confined his attention to only one. The red banners, the blowsfrom the whips, and the fizzing of the powder, did not affect him. Hepursued his victim till the man was glad to save himself by dodging throughone of the narrow doors in the wall, where the monster could not followhim. He butted against the wall, and then pounded the earth with his feetin the fury of his wrath.
If the man had far to run he would inevitably be lost; for the elephant,clumsy as he appears to be, develops great speed of foot when he isexcited. An incident was related by one of the nobles to Captain Ringgoldas the runner disappeared within the door. A young man who was very swiftof foot was closely pursued by the elephant, and had reached the door, whenhe was seized by the arm, tossed in the air, and came down heavily on theground. The foot of the infuriate beast was raised to crush his skull, whenanother man flashed a Bengal light in his face, with the flame almost inhis eyes, and the giant bellowed and fled.
At the blast of a bugle all the men in the ring suddenly deserted it. Theelephant looked about him for any new assailant, and was immediatelyprovided with one. A door flew open, and a fine looking fellow, mounted ona magnificent horse, dashed into the arena. After the manner of the_matador_ in a bull-fight, he conducted his steed, prancing in hispride, up to the arch at which the Guicowar stood, and saluted him with thegrace of a knight-errant whose head was full of ladies.
The elephant is said to have an especial aversion to a horse; and thetormented beast in the ring at once manifested the prejudice of his race,for he made a dart for him. The horse did not flinch, but stood still tillthe giant was almost upon him. Then, at the command of his master, hewheeled, and the rider gave the big beast a smart punch with his lance. Fora few minutes there was a lively skirmish between them, the horsemanpricking him on the trunk or the flanks, and the rage of the elephant wasat its highest pitch.
The fleetness of the horse and the skill of his rider kept the latter outof harm's way till the elephant seemed to be exhausted. The Americansthought he had done enough for one day, and the horseman retired. The greatbeast which had borne the brunt of three combats was allowed to cool off,and then his mahout conducted him to the rest he had bravely won. Thenobles in attendance were sufficiently civilized to indulge in betting, andwagers had been made on the various fights in progress. Mr. Woolridge, whowas a reformed sportsman, may have been tempted; but he did not feel athome in this kind of sporting, and he did not break through any of his goodresolutions.
After the elephant had been removed, there was no little excitement amongthe assemblage in the veranda, and the betting seemed to be livelier thanever. A dozen officers armed with rifles and lances were stationed aboutthe walls of the arena; and then an iron-bound cage was drawn into theenclosure, which contained a monstrous tiger. The guests wondered if thisfierce brute was to be loosed in the arena, and they examined with interestinto the safety of the situation. A number of rifles were brought into theveranda, with which the Guicowar and his native guests armed themselves.
"What does this mean, Sir Modava?" asked Captain Ringgold.
"The next battle will be a noble one, and immense wagers are depending uponthe result," replied the Hindu gentleman.
"Is that big tiger to fight the crowd here assembled?"
"Not at all; but it is such a battle as has never been fought here, ifanywhere. His
Highness had long desired to see a bull-fight, and heimported four of the finest Spanish bulls his agent could find. The_toreadors_ came with them; but they all refused to fight in thisarena, which they declared was not adapted to the purpose, and they wenthome. Three of the bulls died of disease, and only one was left. Adiscussion arose as to whether he was a match for a tiger. This battle isto settle the question; and the bets are mostly in favor of the tiger,though the Guicowar, with a few others, places his stake on the bull," SirModava explained.
The tiger was released from the cage at a signal from the king. He leapedfrom the cage, and seemed to be astonished at the sight of so many people.Three officers took possession of the brute's prison, armed with rifles toshoot him if he killed the bull. No person was in the ring, or within reachof the savage animal. The door by which the horseman had entered was thrownwide open, and the bovine, vexed to the highest degree of wrath, came intothe arena with a bounding run.
The tiger had advanced quietly to the centre of it, though with the royalmien of the "king of beasts," as he was here, his eyes like a couple ofcoals of fire. He caught sight of the bull as soon as he appeared, for hehad doubtless killed many a bullock in the jungle. He planted himself onthe ground in readiness for a spring. His present enemy saw him at the sameinstant; but he did not halt, or show any signs of fear.
"The striped beast went up into the air."--Page 263.]
The bull crouched his head, increased his speed, and bounded on the tiger.At that moment the striped beast went up into the air so quickly that theaudience could hardly see how it was done. His horned foe showed that hehad not wholly escaped, for his head was covered with blood. But the tigerwas not yet defeated. He sprang to his feet, and darted furiously at hisenemy. He fastened with claws and teeth upon the neck of the bull, and theking believed that his wager was lost.
But the Spaniard shook him off, and turned upon him again, tossing himhigher in the air than before. He came down badly disabled; and the bull,as though it was the finest sport in the world for him, gored him with hislong horns till the life was gone out of him. The Spaniard was the victor.The people shouted themselves hoarse; but their cries were in honor of theGuicowar, and not the bull. The victor had lost a great deal of blood froma bad wound in the neck, and it was a question whether or not he would die;but he did not; he recovered, and before the tourists left India Sir Modavalearned that he had been killed in a battle with a smaller tiger than thefirst.
Though the guests said but little about it, most of them were disgustedwith these spectacles, and considered them cruel and brutal. They remainedtheir week at Baroda. Those who desired to do so were taken to a hunt oneday with a cheetah, in which this animal killed deer and other animals; andon another, on elephants, for tigers. Two tigers were killed, and LouisBelgrave had the honor of shooting one of them. Felix brought down a coupleof cobras; and killing them seemed to be his forte. Khayrat invited theparty to witness a battle between his mongoose and a couple of cobras hishunters had caught; and he killed them both, one at a time.
They all declined to attend a fight between a couple of coolies, with hornspikes attached to their hands, for this was worse than a prize-fight. Butthere was no end of amusements that were not brutal, and they enjoyedthemselves abundantly to the end of their stay. They visited the templesand the palaces of the nobles, where they were received with the utmostattention. Captain Sharp and his wife declared this was the red-letter weekof their lives; but the commander of the Blanche insisted that he must takehis ship around to Calcutta, and left by train for Bombay the day beforethe company departed.
The Guicowar resorted to various expedients to retain his guests, with whomhe was evidently sincerely pleased; but the commander was inflexible. Itwas not possible to see a tithe of India, and he felt obliged to leave atthe expiration of the time he had fixed for the visit, and he begged LordTremlyn and Sir Modava not to place them in any more courts, or they wouldnever get out of India. The train was prepared for their departure, and, inaddition to the compartment cars in which they were to pass most of theirtime, a carriage was fitted up, so that all of them could assemble in it;in fact, it was a conference hall on wheels.