Part 19 (2/2)
The friend now seeedme to a distance of several hundred yards I therefore deeentle hint to act less officiously, and, accordingly, having loaded, I approached within thirty yards, and give it her sharp, right and left, behind the shoulder, upon which she at oncetrunk, evidently with awithout regrettingonly one elephant The first was now dying, and could not leave the ground, and the second was also mortally wounded, and I had only to follow and finish her; but I foolishly allowed her to escape, while I a backward, and standing by every tree she passed Twothem, she tossed her trunk up and doo or three tiainst a thorny tree, which yielded like grass before her enorht, she uttered a deep, hoarse cry, and expired This was a very handsome old cow elephant, and was decidedly the best in the troop She was in excellent condition, and carried a pair of long and perfect tusks I was in high spirits atkilled one, that, although it was still early in the day, and my horses were fresh, I allowed the troop of five bulls to re to fall in with them next day
THE SHARK SENTINEL
Withover the rocky cliffs at the back of the island, (New Providence, WI,) we came to a spot where the stillness and the clear transparency of the water invited us to bathe It was not deep As we stood above, on the promontory, we could see the bottom in every part Under the headland, which formed the opposite side of the cove, there was a cavern, to which, as the shore was steep, there was no access but by swi, and we resolved to explore it We soon reached its randeur and wild beauty It extended, we found, a long way back, and had several natural baths, into all of which we successively threw ourselves; each, as they receded further fro colder than the last The tide, it was evident, had free ingress, and renewed the water every twelve hours Here we thoughtlessly a sun warned us that it was tireat distance from us,the back or dorsal fin of a monstrous shark above the surface of the water, and his whole length visible beneath it We looked at hi that he would soon take his departure, and go in search of other prey; but the rogue swa an enemy's port
The sentinel paraded before us, about ten or fifteen yards in front of the cave, tack and tack, waiting only to serve one, if not both of us, as we should have served a shrimp or an oyster We had no intention, however, in this, as in other instances, of ”throwing ourselves on the mercy of the court” In vain did we look for relief from other quarters; the pro, and the sun touching the clear, blue edge of the horizon
I, being the leader, pretended to a little knowledge in ichthyology, and told my companion that fish could hear as well as see, and that therefore the less we said, the better; and the sooner we retreated out of his sight, the sooner he would take himself off This was our only chance, and that a poor one for the flow of the water would soon have enabled him to enter the cave and help himself, as he seemed perfectly acquainted with the _locale_, and knew that we had no mode of retreat, but by the e caht, and I don't knohen I ever passed a more unpleasant quarter of an hour A suit in chancery, or even a spring lounge at Newgate, would have been alan to darken the mouth of our cave, and this infernal monster continued to parade, like a water-bailiff, before its door At last, not seeing the shark's fin above the water, I ht, we must swim for it, for we had notice to quit by the tide; and if we did not depart, should soon have an execution in the house We had been careful not to utter a word, and, silently pressing each other by the hand, we slipped into the water; and, reco ourselves to Providence, struck out manfully I must own I never felt more assured of destruction, not even when I once swah the blood of a poor sailor--while the sharks were eating hi to occupy the else to do but to look after us--we had the benefit of his undivided attention
My sensations were indescribably horrible I may occasionally write or talk of the circumstance with levity, but whenever I recall it to mind, I tremble at the bare recollection of the dreadful fate that seemed inevitable My companion was not so expert a swimmer as I was, so that I distanced him many feet, when I heard him utter a faint cry I turned round, convinced that the shark had seized hi left him so far behind had increased his terror, and induced him to draw ed him Without this he would certainly have sunk; he revived witheluded our enemy, hen he neither saw nor heard us, had, as I concluded he would, quitted the spot
Oncefor sohts were, I do not know; ratitude to God, and renewed vows of ah Charles had not so s were perfectly in unison with h we frequently talked of our escape and laughed at our terrors, yet, on these occasions, our conversation always took a serious turn; and, upon the whole, I aood
[ILlustRATION: HUNTING THE TIGER]
HUNTING THE TIGER
A Gentleman in the civil service of the British East India Cos on an elephant, the latter is generally able to shake him off under his feet, and then woe be to him The elephant either kneels on hiives hi perhaps twenty paces The elephants, however, are often dreadfully torn; and a large old tiger clings too fast to be thus dealt with In this case it often happens that the elephant hi on his eneer both froer is sometimes venomous, as that of a cat is said to be But this does not often happen; and, in general, persons wounded by his teeth or claws, if not killed outright, recover easily enough
”I was at Jaffna, at the northern extre of the year 1819: when, one , my servant called me an hour or two before my usual tier in the town!' Now, enerate speci, which I should designate as a sort of wiry-haired grayhound, without scent I kept thes: by the way, there are no real tigers in Ceylon; but leopards and panthers are always called so, and by ourselves as well as by the natives This turned out to be a panther My gun chanced not to be put together; and whileit, the collector, and two medical men, who had recently arrived, ca-piece, and the latter with re off without waiting for er (I e in a hut, the roof of which, as those of Ceylon huts in general, spread to the ground like an umbrella; the only aperture into it was a set the tiger out at once I begged to wait for -piece (loaded with ball, of course) and the two hog-spears were quite enough I got a hedge-stake, and awaited reat delight, there arrived frolish officer, two artillery-ure we should have cut without them, as the event will shoas now quite ready to attack, and un came a minute afterward The whole scene which follows took place within an enclosure, about twenty feet square, for fence of palmyra leaves, and on the fourth by the hut At the door of this the two artillery-ot on the top, to frighten the tiger out, by worrying it--an easy operation, as the huts there are covered with cocoa-nut leaves One of the artillery-er, but ould not suffer it At last the beast sprang; this man received him on his bayonet, which he thrust apparently down his throat, firing his piece at the sa less than three inches on the musket; the rest remained in the anih his cheek, for it certainly did not seriously injure his, with a loud roar, and placed his paws upon the soldier's breast At this moment, the animal appeared to me to about reach the center of the man's face; but I had scarcely ti his head, seized the soldier's ar, threw him over on his back, and fell upon hiht kill the man: for a moment there was a pause, when his coallant fellow hier rose at him--he fired; and this tiered backward, and we all poured in our fire He still kicked and writhed; when the gentle-spears advanced, and fixed hi hie-stakes The brave artillery-htly hurt: he claiiven to hi the natives that the head should be cut off: it was; and in so doing, the knife came directly across the bayonet The animal measured scarcely less than four feet from the root of the tail to thebeen in Jaffna before; indeed, this one must have either come a distance of almost twenty miles, or have swam across an arm of the sea nearly two in breadth; for Jaffna stands on a peninsula, on which there is no jungle of any nitude”
INDIAN DEVIL
There is an animal in the deep recesses of the forests of Maine, evidently belonging to the feline race, which, on account of its ferocity, is significantly called ”Indian Devil”--in the Indian language, ”the Lunk Soos;” a terror to the Indians, and the only aniland of which they stand in dread You may speak of the moose, the bear, and the wolf even, and the red man is ready for the chase and the encounter But nanificantly shake his head, while he exclaims, ”He all one debil!”
An individual by the na adventure in an encounter with one of these anied in ti in the woods
He had nearly reached the place of encampment, when he came suddenly upon one of these ferocious animals There was no chance for retreat, neither had he time for reflection on the best method of defence or escape As he had no arms or other weapons of defence, his first impulse, in this truly fearful position, unfortunately, perhaps, was to spring into a sth when the desperate creature, probably rendered stillupon and seized hi his foot badly bitten, disengaged it from the shoe, which was firmly clinched in the creature's teeth, and let hi for a more secure position, and the anie tree, about ten feet distant, up which he ascended to an elevation equal to that of his victi his teeth in the calf of his leg Hanging suspended thus until the flesh, insufficient to sustain the weight, gave way, he dropped again to the ground, carrying a portion of flesh in his ain up the opposite tree, and fro his attacks, and tearing away the flesh inoperation, Sed to bind his jack-knife, hich he could now assail his ene hith his attacks were discontinued, and he finally disappeared in the dense forest
During the encounter, Smith had exerted his voice to the utht be within hail He was heard, and in a short time several of the crew reached the place, but not in tiht was truly appalling His garments were not only rent fro even the bone and sinews It ith the greatest difficulty he h loss of blood, and overcoround and immediately fainted; but the application of snow restored hihs, they conveyed him to the camp, washed and dressed his wounds, as well as circumstances would allow, and, as soon as possible, removed him to the settlement, where medical aid was secured After a protracted period of confineh still carrying terrible scars, and sustaining irreparable injury Such desperate encounters are, however of rare occurrence, though collisions less sanguinary are not infrequent
BEAR FIGHT
A sanguinary encounter with bears took place in the vicinity of Tara-height, on the Madawaska river, a few years since:
”A trap had been set by one of theout in search of a yoke of oxen on the evening in question, saw a young bear fast in the trap, and three others close at hand in a very angry mood, a fact which rendered it necessary for hiave the alaroon sabre, he was followed to the scene of action by Mr Jaun, and the other man with an axe