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We had just arrived at the mountain, which we were now leaving to our left, when we suddenly halted, our attention having been arrested by the loud roaring of elephants in a jungle at the foot of the hills, within a quarter of a mile of us. The roaring continued at intervals, reverberating among the rocks like distant thunder, till it at length died away to stillness.
We soon arrived in the vicinity of the sound, and shortly discovered tracks upon a hard, sandy soil, covered with rocks and overgrown with a low, but tolerably open, jungle at the base of the mountain. Following the tracks, we began to ascend steep flights of natural steps formed by the layers of rock which girded the foot of the mountain; these were covered with jungle, interspersed with large masses of granite, which in some places formed alleys through which the herd had passed. The surface of the ground being nothing but hard rock, tracking was very difficult, and it took me a considerable time to follow up the elephants by the pieces of twigs and crunched leaves which they had dropped while feeding. I at length tracked them to a small pool formed by the rain water in the hollow of the rock; here they had evidently been drinking only a few minutes previous, for the tracks of their feet upon the margin of the pool were still wet. I now went on in advance of the party, with great caution,for I knew that we were not many paces from the herd. Passing through several openings among the rocks, I came suddenly upon a level plateau of ground covered with dense lemon grass about twelve feet high, which was so thick and tangled that a man could with difficulty force his way through it. This level space, about two acres in extent, was surrounded by jungle upon all sides but one; on this side, to our right as we entered, the mountain rose in rocky steps, from the crevices of which the lemon grass grew in tall tufts.
The instant that I arrived in this spot I perceived the flap of an elephant’s ear in the high grass, about thirty paces from me, and upon careful inspection I saw two elephants standing close together. By the rustling of the grass in different places I could see that the herd was scattered, but I could not make out the elephants individually, for the grass was above their heads.
I paused for some minutes to consider the best plan of attack; but the gun-bearers behind me, in a great state of excitement, began to whisper to each other, and in arranging their positions behind their respective masters, knocked several of the guns together. In the same moment the two leading elephants discovered us, and throwing their trunks up perpendicularly, they blew the shrill trumpet of alarm without attempting to retreat. Several trumpets answered the call immediately from different positions in the high grass; trunks were thrown up, and huge heads appeared in many places as they endeavored to discover the danger which the leaders had announced.
The growl of an elephant is exactly like the rumbling of thunder, and from their deep lungs the two leaders that had discovered us kept up an uninterrupted peal, thus calling the herd together. Nevertheless, they did not attempt to retreat, but stood gazing attentively at us with their ears cocked, looking extremely vicious. In the meantime we stood perfectly motionless, lest we should scare them before the whole herd had closed up. In about a minute a dense mass of elephants had collected around the two leaders, and these were all gazing at us. Thinking this a favorable moment, I gave the word, and we pushed toward them through the high grass. A portion of the herd immediately wheeled round and retreated as we advanced; but five elephants, including the two which had first discovered us, formed in a compact line abreast; thrashing the long grass to the right and left with their trunks, and with ears cocked and tails up,they came straight at us. We pushed forward to meet them, but they still came on in a perfect line until within ten paces of us.
A cloud of smoke hung over the high grass as the rifles cracked in rapid succession, and the five elephants lay dead in the same order as they had advanced. The spare guns had been beautifully handled; and running between the elephants, we got into the lane that the remaining portion of the herd had made by crushing the high grass in their retreat.We were up with them in a few moments. Down went one! Then another! Up he got again, almost immediately recovering from V.’s shot.Down he went again, as I floored him with my last barrel!
I suddenly heard Wallace shriek, “Look out, sir! Look out! An elephant’s coming!’’
I turned round in a moment; and close past Wallace, from the very spot where the last elephant lay, came a “rogue” elephant in full charge.His trunk was thrown high in the air; his ears were cocked; his tail stood erect above his back as stiff as a poker; and screaming exactly like the whistle of a railway engine, he rushed toward me through the high grass with a velocity that was perfectly wonderful. His eyes flashed as he came on, and he had singled me out as his victim.
I have often been in dangerous positions, but I never felt so totally devoid of hope as I did in this instance. The tangled grass rendered retreat impossible. I had only one barrel loaded, and that was useless, as the upraised trunk protected his forehead. I felt myself doomed; and I resolved to wait for him till he was close upon me before I fired, hoping that he might lower his trunk and expose his forehead.
He rushed along at the pace of a horse in full speed; in a few moments,as the grass flew to the right and left before him, he was close upon me;but still his trunk was raised, and I would not fire. One second more, and at this headlong pace he was within three feet of me; down slashed his trunk with the rapidity of a whip-thong, and with a shrill scream of fury he was upon me!
I fired at that instant; but in the twinkling of an eye I was flying through the air like a ball from a bat. At the moment of firing I had jumped to the left, but he struck me with his tusk in full charge upon my right thigh, and hurled me eight or ten paces from him. That very moment he stopped, and, turning round, he beat the grass about with his trunk, and commenced a strict search for me. I heard him advancing close to the spot where I lay as still as death, knowing that my last chance lay in concealment. I heard the grass rustling close to me; closer and closer he approached, and he at length beat the grass with his trunk several times exactly above me. I held my breath, momentarily expecting to feel his ponderous foot upon me. Although I had not felt the sensation of fear while I had to stood opposed to him, I felt as I never wish to feel again, while he was deliberately hunting me up. Fortunately, I had reserved my fire until the rifle had almost touched him, for the powder and smoke had nearly blinded him and had spoiled his acute power of scent. To my joy I heard the rustling of the grass grow fainter; again I heard it at a still greater distance; at length it was gone!
( Samuel White Baker )
Samuel White Baker (1821-1893) was an English engineer and author. At the age of twenty-four he went to Ceylon, where he soon became known as an explorer and hunter of big game. With his wife he explored the region of the Nile River, and later discovered the lake now called Albert Nyanza. These explorations in Africa are a part of the thrilling story of the discovery of the sources of that great river and of the opening of that region to civilization. Upon his return to England, Baker was knighted and sent to Egypt. Later he explored and hunted in Cyprus, India, Japan, and the United States. He is the author of Wild Beasts and Their Ways, True Tales for My Grandsons, and The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylo, from which “A Furious Elephant Charge” is taken.
reverberating : echoing
interspersed : happening in between periods of time
crevices : large cracks in the ground
velocity : the speed at which something moves
acute : very serious
A) Answer the following questions.
1) What does the author say about the charge?
2) What does the author say the growl of the elephant is similar to?
3) Why did the author feel helpless in this adventure?
4) How do you think he felt when the elephant wasn’t able to fid him?
5) What qualities do you think a good hunter must have?
B) Word Groups—Complete the following word groups from the story.
1) lake, river, p _ _ _
2) flute, drums, t_ _ _ _ _
3) tooth, horn, t _ _ _
4) cheek, mouth, f _ _ _ _ _ _ _
5) group, collection, h _ _ _
C) Fill in the blanks—Choose the correct words from the story.
1) The setting is in the m _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
2) The elephants left t _ _ _ _ _ behind.
3) The elephants growled like t _ _ _ _ _ _.
4) Elephants can run as fast as a h _ _ _ _.
5) The elephant used a t _ _ _ to throw the hunter into the air.