ELEPHANTS AT HOME
"Eh? What? Nonsense!"
"That's what I said, Master Harry. It's 'most a thousand times darker
than when we lay down. I mean, it would be if old Sree hadn't raked
the fire together and put on some more wood. He said it was time to
get up, and I had to get up; but I feel horrid bad. I hope we're all
alive."
"Did Sree say it was to-morrow morning, Mike?"
"Yes, sir; but I don't believe it."
"Here, Phra, wake up. Do you hear? Mike says it's tomorrow morning."
"No, sir; no, sir," protested the man, who could be dimly seen leaning
over the boys by the faint rays of the fire ashore still streaming in.
"I wouldn't have said such a thing these next two hours."
"Very well," said Harry irritably; "Sree said so, and he's sure to
know. Do you hear, Phra? Wake up."
Phra made use of a word he had learned of his companion.
"Bother!" And then, "Do be quiet!"
"Shan't. Wake up, or I'll scoop in some water over you."
"You do if you dare," growled Phra viciously.
"Oh, I dare," said Harry, whose sleepy irritability was going off and
making way for the spirit of mischief in him; "but I don't want to
make everything wet. Get up, you miserable old Siamese prince! You're
not going to sleep if I'm not."
"Bother!" cried Phra sharply, in response to a shake.
"Wake up, then! Here, Phra, we're all alive oh! and nothing has
touched us all through the night."
"Oh!"
"What's the matter, Mike?" said Harry, whose attention was turned from
the young Prince to their man.
"I'm so bad, sir. I've caught the jungle fever with sleeping in this
damp place."
"Nonsense!"
"Oh, I have, sir, and I feel dreadful bad. I never was so ill before
in my life."
"I don't believe it, but I'll wake Doctor Cameron. I daresay he
brought some quinine with him."
"What! that horrid, bitter stuff, sir? No, no; don't, please."
"Bah! Making a fuss about some physic. But you must have it. We're not
going to have our trip spoiled by your turning ill. I say, Doctor!"
"No, no, Master Harry; don't say anything, please," whispered the man.
"Not till after breakfast. I couldn't eat a mossle if I had to take
that horrid, bitter quinny."
"Oh, you must be bad!" said Harry, with mock sympathy. "Here, I know a
little. How do you feel?--pain in your back?"
"A little, sir, where it rested against a big bamboo in the night."
"That sounds bad," said Harry.
"Does it, sir? Oh dear!"
"What else? Headache?"
"No, sir; but I've got it, and I can feel my face all covered with
spots."
"It's the mosquitoes," cried Phra, sitting up suddenly.
"Hullo! You awake?--That's it, Mikey."
"Oh no, sir," groaned the man; "it's worse than that."
"'Tisn't. His Royal Highness Prince Phra Mala Krom Praya says it's
mosquitoes, and he's right. How many spots have you got on your face?
A million?"
"Well, no, sir, I don't think there's as many as that; but my face is
full, and they itch and sting horrid, and my eyes are swelled up and
stiff. Just you feel."
"No, thankye, Mike; but I'll have a look as soon as it is light. I
say, though, I wonder you haven't got a million bites.--There, don't
be such a baby. Go and get the breakfast ready. I'll wake the others."
"He ain't a bit o' feeling in him," sighed Mike to himself; and he
went out of the cabin.
"What does it look like, Phra?" said Harry, for his companion had
passed his head out beside the matting.
"Come and see; it's lovely."
Harry thrust his head out on the other side of the mat, to gaze up and
down the river, to see overhead the stars growing pale and feeble,
while the river bed was filled up by a soft, dark-grey flood which
rose about ten or fifteen feet up the black wall of trees opposite to
them. On the other side and overhead there was a warm glow which lit
up the thin mist, giving it a roseate hue, while the cloud of smoke
was gathering more and more and blotting out the faint stars half
across the river, its under side ruddy too with the fire-reflected
light.
"I never saw the river look like this before," cried Harry. "Looks
jolly, doesn't it?"
"Beautiful and calm, and just as if the earth was waking up," replied
Phra.
"Birds, you mean," said Harry. "Parrots are whistling, and--here, I
say, hark at that _coo--ah--coo--ah_. Hear that?"
"Yes. Argus pheasant," said Phra eagerly.
"Let's take the guns and go and see if we can't get a shot at it."
"What! try and get through the jungle now it's all dripping with dew?"
"Never thought of that," said Harry. "Would be sloppy, wouldn't it?"
"Sloppy! Why, we should be drenched before we'd gone ten yards."
"And I don't suppose we could go ten yards. Let's go and ask old Sree
if he can call the birds over, so that we can get a shot at them."
They stepped carefully out into the forward part of the boat, and then
Harry thrust back his head to carry out his promise.
"Father! Doctor!" he cried. "Morning."
"Yes; thank you," said Mr. Kenyon, and the doctor grunted.
Phra had by this time reached the mooring rope and begun drawing the
boat's prow close up to the prostrate tree-trunk to which it was
moored, for prostrate trees were plentiful along the banks, and in one
place two falling nearly opposite from either bank of the stream had
almost formed a barricade to stop the way.
"Be careful, Sahibs," said a voice out of the gloom, the old hunter
having left the group of rowers gathered round the fire. "The
tree-trunk is slippery with the dew."
"Oh, it's you, Sree," said Harry. "Isn't that the coo--ah calling?"
"Yes, Sahib; I have heard it many times."
"Could we get near and manage a shot at it?"
"No, Sahib; it would hear us before we were half way, and be silent.
Then we should not know which way to go. Besides, you would find the
grass and trees too wet."
"Would it come if you called to it?"
"No, Sahib, not unless we were in a deep, dark part of the jungle."
"Oh well, never mind," said Harry. "It wouldn't be pleasant before
breakfast. Here, let's go ashore now we're so near, Phra. Anything
burned in the fire last night?"
"Yes, Sahib; I've found four dead birds under the trees, and some
lizards and snakes that had been too close. Some of them were only
half dead. They had scorched themselves and then crawled away."
The boys went up to the blazing fire, to find Mike busy cooking the
men's breakfast, the latter making way for the lads to come close up
to the pleasant glow, which dissipated the chilly mist floating
around.
As they went round the fire Sree pointed out the remains of several
reptiles, one of which was still moving and writhing slightly.
This--part of a long, thin snake--Sree stooped to twitch into the
hottest part of the glowing fire.
"Oh, I say, Sree, how horrid!" said Harry.
"No, sir; better dead than living in such pain. It could never get
well. This one might," he added, dragging another from among the low
growth close by, with the result that it came to and bit at a bamboo
staff the man held.
"It's poisonous," cried Phra. "Mind!"
"Yes, Sahib; I'll take care," said Sree. "It is a good deal scorched,
but it might live and do mischief. It is a very bad kind, almost as
poisonous as the naga."
As he spoke he gave his bamboo staff a whirl round his head, which
threw the writhing reptile into a knot at the end, and then giving a
final jerk the dangerous creature was dashed into the middle of the
fire, where a loud sputtering, crackling, and hissing bespoke its
fate.
"Was that it hissing in agony?" said Harry, with a look of disgust.
"Oh no, Sahib," said the old hunter, smiling. "It is only the flesh.
The heat in there killed the snake directly. Look! there is a dead
bird; that will make the same noise. Throw it in."
"Why, it's one of those beautiful rosy pigeons," said Harry, "only
half its feathers are burnt off. It's dead enough. I say, though, it's
a pity to waste that. I'll make Mike cook it for breakfast. What's
that bird?"
"A crow," said Phra, turning the object over with his foot; and then,
before Harry could seize it, tossing it into the fire himself, for a
precisely similar hissing to arise.
"I'm glad of that," said Harry; "it seems so horrible to burn anything
alive. Here, Mike, how soon will our breakfast be ready?"
"As soon as I can go on board to get it, sir. The gentlemen are not up
yet."
"Not up!" said Harry. "Why, you talk as if they slept in
bedrooms--Look! there they are."
For as he spoke the matting was drawn aside, just as the light was
coming fast, the faint rays of the sun striking horizontally through
the soft, grey mist, and lighting it up like a cloud at sunset.
The effect was wonderful, for with the first rising of the sun there
was a light breeze which lifted the mist, making it rise and float
away in wreaths across the tops of the jungle trees, the coming of
bright day once more bringing forth a wild chorus of shrieks, pipings,
and strange cries from the hidden birds.
Mike quickly had a good meal spread, and as soon as the fire was no
longer necessary, the men under Sree's direction threw a few jars of
water over it, and then took to their oars, the breakfast in the open
cabin being finished as the party glided up the beautiful stream.
They were now well beyond the parts ever reached by the most
venturesome of the boating men of the town and villages around, and in
consequence the various birds and quadrupeds displayed but little
shyness, the former fluttering near the boat, or perching in little
flocks to watch the visitors to this wild region, while the monkeys
grew more and more venturesome, ceasing to depute the observations to
the old greybeard of the troop, and crowding on the branches, to
chatter and stare down, probably seeing human beings for the first
time in their lives.
"They don't seem to think much of us, Phra," said Harry, who was lying
back so that he could look up in comfort at the comical little
creatures.
"Well, it's quite fair," said Phra; "we don't think much of them. I
don't know, though; I envy their strength. Look how easily they make
those jumps."
"Yes, it would puzzle us. But isn't it ridiculous that they should be
so careless, jumping from tree to tree just over the water, where they
ought to know that the crocodiles are waiting for them? I daresay we
shall see one come down with a splash directly."
Harry was quite right: five minutes had not passed before, in the
midst of a loud chattering, a low, heavily laden bough snapped, and
about a dozen of the little fellows fell scrambling down; but all
saved themselves by catching at branches before reaching the water,
save one, who went in with a loud splash, but caught at some twigs and
leaves which dipped in the surface, and cleverly dragged itself out,
to begin scrambling up again amidst a chorus of loud cries, just as
the long muzzle of a crocodile was thrust out and snatched back again
as rapidly, after receiving full in the side of the head the contents
of the doctor's gun.
"Brute!" he exclaimed. "What a beautiful place this would be if it
were not infested with these savage wretches!--Killed, Sree?"
"No, Sahib; I think not. I can see him swimming yonder. The water is
clear here."
They had another glimpse at the injured reptile, which shot up about
fifty yards ahead, beat the water for a few moments, and then
disappeared beneath the tangle.
No more shooting was done, the voyagers contenting themselves with
observing, and finding abundance to take their attention, for at every
few yards some curious-looking water-fowl or wader rose from the river
side. Then it would be a lovely blue kingfisher or solemn-looking
crimson-breasted trogon, while at times a glimpse was obtained of some
animal coming down to drink, only to be startled away by the passing
boat.
Once it was a strange-looking animal with trunk-like snout, which
stared for a moment before wrenching itself round, giving just a
momentary view of its piebald body, and then rushed through the
undergrowth.
"We're favoured," cried the doctor. "That was a specimen one ought to
have shot."
"What for?" said Mr. Kenyon. "It would have been too big and clumsy to
preserve. If you shoot, let it be something for the table."
The doctor took note of this, and he and the lads finding good
opportunities, brought down several large water-fowl, which were
plucked by the men not rowing for the evening meal, it having been
decided that while on the trip up the river two good meals would be
sufficient for each day.
Twice over Phra's sharp eyes detected large serpents in the
overhanging boughs, their presence being doubtless explicable by the
numbers of monkeys travelling to and fro along the edges of the jungle
where it was cut by the river.
On the second occasion the doctor's gun was raised for a shot, but a
sign from the old hunter stopped him.
"What is it?" he said, for Sree was pointing forward.
"Elephants, Sahib," whispered the man; and then bidding the men to row
gently, so as not to make a sound, the boat glided on towards what in
the distance looked like the blunt end of the river, so completely did
it seem cut off by the sudden way in which it doubled back upon
itself, growing wider and shallower at the same time, while from some
peculiarity of soil the trees had retired farther from the bank,
leaving quite a wide, park-like stretch, through which the stream
meandered.
But the party in the boat had no eyes for the scenery; their attention
was taken up fully, as they turned the bend of the river, by the sight
of some ten or a dozen elephants of all sizes indulging in a bath in
the now shallow water, wading, wallowing, or squirting it over their
backs.
It was evidently such a sanctuary that the great animals felt no fear
of being disturbed, and the boat and its occupants remained unnoticed,
Sree having signed to the men to run it close in under the shore on
the right. Here, through the doubling back of the river, they were not
above a couple of hundred yards across the intervening jungle from
where they had come up and the old hunter had first heard the noise
made by the herd.
They sat for some time watching the actions of the strange,
unwieldy-looking creatures, and would have been content to remain
longer had not the largest of the animals, after syringeing himself to
his heart's content, trumpeted loudly and begun to wade out of the
river, taking a course which, if continued, would have brought him to
the shore close to the boat.
Wild elephants can be very dangerous if roused; but here there was
nothing to fear, for the men could with a few strokes have put the
boat into deep water where an elephant was not likely to follow; so in
obedience to Mr. Kenyon's order, the rowers rested on their oars and
the elephant came on, nearer and nearer, his great head nodding and
bowing from side to side, and his eyes fixed upon the surface, till
suddenly taking the scent of the travellers, borne by the light air,
he stopped short, caught sight of them as he raised his head, and
stood as if turned to stone, staring at them for some seconds, before
uttering a strange cry of alarm and dashing back, with ears flapping
and extended trunk, towards his companions.
The first cry of alarm was sufficient, every elephant churning up the
water in the endeavour to be first on the farther shore.
The party watched till the last beast had disappeared, the first
making straight for the jungle and plunging right in through a hole it
made apparently in the great wall of greenery, the others following in
single line after it, and, according to custom using its footprints,
till the biggest, who appeared to be as massive as old Sul, passed
through, and the elastic stems and vines seemed to spring back in
their places.
"Why, Phra," said Harry, "I did not know that we had wild elephants so
near. Did you know, Sree?"
"Yes, Sahib; I have seen that herd many times, and could lead the
King's elephant-catchers to their hiding-place if they were wanted;
but they have not been wanted yet."
"It is a curious country," said Mr. Kenyon; "we seem to know nothing
of it a few miles from any of the rivers."
The open part they were in looked so bright and attractive that,
regardless of the near neighbourhood of the elephants, it was decided
merely to go to the upper end of the shallows where the jungle closed
in again, and where a sufficiently umbrageous tree could be found
projecting over the river to add to their shelter, and then camp for
the night.
Here a fire was once more lit, and while the preparations for the
evening meal went on, the doctor and the two boys took their guns for
a stroll back along the open stretch of grass they had passed.
"Don't be long," said Mr. Kenyon.
"Which means, don't go too far," replied the doctor. "We shall not. It
is only to stretch our legs a bit, for the boat is rather cramping."
The intention was good and wise, but the object intended soon proved
to be almost an impossibility. The stretch of open land between the
river and the jungle looked at a distance much like a fair meadow, and
it struck Harry from that point of view.
"Just the place for our cricket," he said to Phra, as, shouldering
their guns, they stepped off after the doctor.
"Mind how you come," said the latter, who was brought to a standstill.
"The water has been all over here, and the place is full of cracks and
holes. Try back a little your way."
"Looks quite right here, sir," cried Harry. "It's as solid as--Oh--Hi!
Phra, catch hold of my gun."
The boy laid his own piece down, caught at the barrel of Harry's, and
pulling hard, his companion, who had sunk up to his knees and was
steadily going lower, was able to struggle back.
"Oh, here's a mess!" he panted, stamping to get rid of the mud.
"You didn't choose the right direction, Hal," said the doctor,
laughing.
"No, sir," said Harry meekly. "Will you go first?"
"Yes, I think I can do better than that, my lad. Let's strike right
across here towards where the elephants went out of sight. The ground
must be firmer there."
The boys prepared to follow, as the doctor led off; but Harry directed
a malicious glance at his companion, which seemed to say plainly,
"Look out, and see if he doesn't go in."
But Harry felt disappointed and ill-used, as well as wet and muddy
about the legs, for the doctor strode off steadily for about twenty
yards, the boys following over perfectly firm ground.
"You should pick your way in a place like this, my lads. It only
needs--"
_Care,_ the doctor was about to say, but he did not; for all at once,
to Harry's intense delight, his leader uttered a sharp ejaculation,
and, throwing himself flat on the ground, began to roll over and over,
with his gun held upright against his breast, till he was close to the
boys' feet, where he sat up, drew the stout hunting-knife he wore at
his breast, and began to scrape the mud off one leg.
"Was it soft there, sir?" said Harry, with mock seriousness.
"Soft!" cried the doctor. "Oh, you're laughing at me, eh? Well, I'm
fair game, I must own. Here, step back! quick! both of you. We're
sinking."
It was quite true, for there was a bubbling, hissing, and gurgling
sound arising from among the grassy growth, and the black water began
to ooze up among the stems, so that as the boys ran back it splashed
up, and the doctor followed, none too soon.
"Why, the whole place is a marsh," he said, looking back as soon as
the ground felt more solid. "It is just as if the water of the river
spread right up to the jungle and this part had become covered with
weeds and plants till they were matted together and looked like a
meadow."
"But," cried Harry, "I want to know how the elephants managed."
"There must be a sort of causeway of firm ground somewhere out in the
middle there," replied the doctor. "I daresay we should find it so if
we went back with the boat to where the great creatures came out of
the water."
"And we couldn't have the boat now, I suppose," said Harry, glancing
in the direction of camp.
"No, but it does not matter. We should only find a muddy, elephant
path, full of holes."
"Sorry I was so stupid, doctor," said Harry.
The doctor turned to him sharply and nodded.
"Yes, you have me on the hip there, Hal. Take it as a warning to
yourself not to be in too great a hurry to condemn other people."
Phra smiled.
"What are we going to do?" he said. "It's too soon to go back."
"Well, we can't walk on this floating green carpet," replied Harry.
"Could we get along by the river?"
"We could try," said the doctor.
"Or go up along the edge of the jungle. We ought to find something
worth shooting there."
"Let's try the edge of the jungle," said the doctor. "The ground must
be firmer there."
Striking up to their right, they managed to get about fifty yards
nearer the edge of the forest; but then they had to turn back and make
for a point nearer the little camp, where two or three huge trees
stood out like sentinels in front of the vast army of vegetation
packed closely as trees could stand.
Here the earth proved to be firm, and for a few dozen yards they
managed to progress among the trees at the very edge of the jungle.
After that the way was stopped by the interlacing creepers and thorny
rotans, and after a few minutes' trial it became evident that without
the help of stout men with their parangs to clear the way, further
progress was impossible.
"Let's go back again," said Harry. "One does get so hot and fagged."
"Better keep walking till your legs are dry," said the doctor. "I
don't want you down with a feverish cold."
"They're nearly dry now," said Harry, "and they'll be quite dry by the
time we get back."
"Yes," said Phra; "it's farther off than we think for, and will take
longer."
"Back again, then," said the doctor; "but I do not like to be beaten
like this. I wanted to see more of the elephants and their ways."
"Come to the big stables, then, Doctor, when we get back. Phra will
take you and let you see all there are at home; won't you, Phra?"
"Of course, if the doctor wishes to see them."
"Much obliged," replied the doctor; "but it's the wild ones I want to
study. What's that?"
He stopped short, and brought his gun round ready to fire at any
danger which might assail them from the jungle.
The boys had heard what startled their companion, and cocked their
guns. For suddenly there was the quick rush of something behind the
dense screen of verdure--a something which seemed to have been
watching them, and had darted off as soon as they came near.
"Wild pig?" asked Harry.
"No, I think it was more like a man," replied the doctor. "What do you
say, Phra?"
"I think it was a man, but how could a man rush through the jungle
like that? We must ask Sree if there are any wild tribe people about
here."
"There would not be nearer than the mountain region," said the doctor;
"but whatever it was has gone. Look, they're making signals for us to
come back."
The boys looked in the direction of the camp, where a thin mat had
been hoisted, flag fashion, at the end of one of the bamboo poles of
the boat; and hurrying their steps a little they reached the great
tree beneath which the cooking fire had been made, to find the boatmen
finishing their rice, and a capitally cooked meal waiting for them in
the boat.
Sree shook his head at the suggestion of any people being near.
"Plenty of wild beasts, Sahib; and I have seen the tracks of a tiger
that has been down to the water. There are plenty of monkeys, too, the
greybeards and the big, black fellows; but I don't think we should
find savage people here in the jungle. It would be a wild boar or a
rhinoceros. No, not a rhinoceros; he would not have run away. It might
have been a tapir."
The evening changed very rapidly into night, and with the darkness
came the wonderful chorus of strange sounds from the jungle and banks
of the river, the splashings and coughing, barking utterances giving
warning that the crocodiles were still plentiful. The fire-flies were
even more beautiful there than in the denser portion where the river
banks were hidden by great timber trees, for on both sides lower down
the low, shrub-like growth was more abundant.
The scene was very beautiful, with the star-studded, clear, dark, sky
above, and the reflection as it were of another star-spangled heaven
in the smooth, gliding water at their feet, while the myriads of
fire-flies suggested the existence of another intermediate star sphere
in constant motion, now scintillating, now dying out, and again as if
floating along the opposite shore like a low cloud of tiny orbs,
golden-green, golden, pale lambent, and occasionally ruddier than
Aldebaran or some kindred star.
There was less disposition for sitting up talking that night, and soon
after the fire was well replenished, and its necessity made plain.
Phra was the first to call attention to the distant cry, which was
exactly that of some enormous cat far away in the jungle.
"Calling his mate," said Mr. Kenyon.
"Perhaps the tiger whose tracks Sree saw in the soft mud this
evening," said Harry. "I suppose he will not come near our fire, or
try to get on board. Think we ought to keep watch, father?"
"Oh no, my boy. We are floating out here a good thirty feet from the
land."
"But suppose the boat drifts to the side in the night?" suggested
Phra.
"It is not probable, for we are right where the stream sets off the
shore. We are not likely to be disturbed, boys. There is the proof."
Mr. Kenyon pointed to where the men had spread the mats over the
horizontal bamboo, and were settling down to sleep.
"Yes, that is a pretty good sign," said the doctor; "the men would not
take matters so coolly if there were any danger from tigers."
"Did the Sahibs hear the big tiger calling?" said Sree, thrusting his
head out from beneath the men's awning.
"Yes, quite plainly," said Harry. "Think he'll come prowling about the
fire, so as to give us a shot?"
"No, no, Sahib," replied the man, shaking his head; "he will be too
careful."
"That was a clever way of putting it, Hal," said the doctor drily.
"You did not say, Is there any fear of the tiger's swimming out to
us?"
"No; why should I tell him that I was a bit nervous?" replied Harry
frankly; "even if one does feel a bit scared, I can't help it, can I,
father?"
"No, my boy; it is quite natural to feel a little nervous, and to make
sure that one's gun is loaded and close at hand. But we must get used
to these noises. We can't expect to come out here and live in such a
wild place without being a bit startled sometimes. Good-night, boys.
But you have not fastened down that mat to shut out the night air."
"Just going to, father," replied Harry. "I don't think, though, that
we shall have so much mist here."
The final good-nights were said just as the last murmurs of the men's
conversation forward died out, and then all was still, the darkness
being relieved by the rays from the fire, which crackled and burned
merrily, the light coming quite brightly at times through the
interstices of the mats, and then, as the smoke rolled up decreasing
again; while after shifting his position to get into a more
comfortable attitude, Harry Kenyon drew a long, deep breath, with a
touch of a yawn in it, and then told himself that he did not mean to
feel in the slightest degree nervous about the strangeness of their
position, but was going to have a good, long night's rest.