Part 70 (1/2)
We followed the herd Its track ide, and easier than the winding native foot-paths; and illing enough to jettison loads of trade-goods if only we could replace theon, over the shoulder of an outlying spur, and upward toward theas we kept in the wake of the herd the going presented no difficulties We knew by the state of the tracks and the dung that the herd was never far ahead Frequently we heard theh trees in front of us Yet whenever we came so close as to hope for a view, and a shot at a tusker, invariably a regular fusillade fro with a din like all the avalanches
Streams by the dozen flowed down fro where the elephants had crossed Our donkeys grew used to being tied by the head in line and hauled across (for in common with all herds of donkeys, there were a few of them that swam readily, and many that either could not or refused) The flies in the wake of the elephants orse than the tetse that haunted the shore of Nyanza
We had no trouble now froanda's hands loose They feared the cannibals of the higher slopes, but were ht rear Our difficulty lay in co the a halt each day before men and animals were too utterly tired out Yet for all their hurry, we did not gain on the hly scared, will run away forever Our boys openly praised the herd in front for its speed and stae us to keep the madman with the rifle at a safe distance to our rear But it seeave hi along our right flank at a distance of severalus nearlyand running away to the ard If we had relaxed our vigilance for a moment they would have broken line and fled
It was old volcanic country ere in forest for the most part, with earth so waron quite extinct Even at that low level we ca as fine caves for beasts of prey We went into one for about three hundred paces before it narrowed into nothing, and would have camped in it but for the stink It sinal sin had turned rotten Fred said that was sulphur, with the air of a man ould like it believed that he knew
At last the enehtdae heard hi it was simply ihost of Schillingschen had gone in league with the elephants to destroy us, and they preferred to be shot by us rather than murdered by witchcraft
Beyond doubt they would have bolted and left us had that careat wings of rock alh the ap by which elephant or man could enter (unless they should fall fro up trunks of trees
After a useless argu which we all lost our tee of panic, we decided to leave thee of Brown and those porters, except Kazimoto, who had rifles
The armed men promised faithfully to die beside Brown in the only place of exit rather than perreed it would be right to shoot theether--Fred, Will, I, and Kazi up the rear--wondering whether we should ever see anyto a funeral--or rather from it--more than likely Brown's
Kazi spare rifles; but Brown had refused to remain behind unless we left him all but the one apiece we absolutely needed We took the boys more from habit than for any use they were likely to be; and my boy and Will's bolted back to the ca us to shoot therunted ”They are afraid of death Teach thee them as they approached the camp, and hoped he thrashed therown afraid; for the fear of a crowd is contagious, and spreads nearly as readily from black to white as from white to black He broke open a chop-box and consoled hietation that crowded around a spur of volcanic rock, it soon beca not far in front of us, tearing off li about as if noise were the only object We climbed and attempted to look down on them, only to discover that the part of the forest where ere consisted of a narrow belt, with a mile-wide open space beyond it between us and the elephants The as from them toward us, but that did not wholly account for the amount of noise that reached us It was the fact that the herd ice as big as we iined There were elephants in every direction We could see and hear branches breaking with reports like cannon-fire
Kazi across his ugly honest face, and his eyes alight with enthusiasm This was the profession he had follohen he was Courtney's gun-bearer, and he kept close to Fred with a handful of cartridges ready to pass to hi wise counsel
”Get close to the our way--s our way--elephant very busy eating--no hurry! No long shooting! Go right up close!”
It was easier said than done The elephants had spread broadcast through the forest, and there was no longer one well-defined swath to follow, but a very great nurowth between great unyielding trees We had to separate, to gain any advantage froed into the open more than a hundred yards apart, with Fred at the far left and Will in the center Fred, with Kazimoto close at his heels, was more than fifty yards in front of either of us
And crossing that mile of open land was no simple business It was a mass of rocks and tree-roots, burned over in so forest fire and not yet reseeded, nor yet rotted down There inding ways all across it by the dozen that the elephants, with their greater height and better woodcraft, could follow on the run, but great stuher than a man's head (that from a distance had looked like level land) blocked all vision and uesswork
However, the latter half-ed fro whether I could ever find ain, and envied Fred, who had found a better track and had the lead of me now by several hundred yards Will was as far behind hi ht
Kazi low behind hied beast They were headed for the forest in front of the their lead from Will, who, like me, was more or less winded I stooped at a pool to scoop up water and splash my face and neck When I looked up a moment later I could see none of thereat brutes crashi+ng in the forest, unseen within a hundred yards of iven all I had or hoped for just to have a friend within speaking distance, a shot rang out in the forest ahead, and rattled from tree to tree like the echo of a skirun, or Will's It was the phantoschen's ghost--or whoever he was, he could not have ti The first shot was followed by six more in swift succession And then chaos broke loose
Tohere I stood, frole tocould have guessed their nu trees and crashi+ng undergrowth, split apart by the tru their young ones The earth shook under the weight of their tre out three times far to my left--then Will's a rifle nearer totoward its own left, and the whole lot of theht forthem now None but the very farthest on the flank could have turned, given sense enough left to do it It was a flood of maddened monsters, crazed with fear, pent by their own numbers, forced forward by the crowd behind, that invited me to dam them if I could!
As they burst into the open, s!
I glanced behind, to right and left, but there was no escape, I had co rocks to the rear to have scra rock in front of me that divided their course about in halves; to pass it they ain I took my stand in line with that, as a e behind an unestablishable alibi
They talk glibly aboutin review before them in the instant of a crisis That may be That was a crisis, and I saw elephants--elephants! I remembered some of what Courtney had told us--some of the mad yarns Coutlass spun when liquor and the camp-fire made hiinings of what I should do when such a time came, seemed to be condensed into one concrete deer, bent around the trigger, absolutely would not act!
The oncoray wave of brutes split apart at the rock, as itas they crashed into it breast on and were crushed by the crowd behind In the van of the right-hand wing, brushi+ng the rock with his shoulder, charged an enorhed down his head to a perht of --and came atto the left, and host orup a battle of his own I felt the fear, that turns aelephants--accepted the inevitable--and suddenly received er acted! I fired point-blank down the throat of the charging bull And it seemed to have no more effect on him than a pea-shooter has on a railroad train!
I had left Schillingschen's heavy-bored elephant gun behind with Brown, considering it too cu a Mauser with flat-nosed bullets I fired four shots as fast as I could puht down the monster's hot red throat; and he continued to come on as if I had not touched hi as he