In this attitude he remained for several minutes--the elephant all the
while continuing its efforts to reach him Karl and Caspar, seated upon
the branches of the tree, to which they had retreated, were witnesses of
the whole scene from beginning to end. The situation of Ossaroo would
have bean sufficiently ludicrous for Caspar to have laughed at it, but
for the danger in which the shikaree was placed. This was so evident,
that instead of indulging in anything akin to levity, Caspar looked on
with feelings of deep anxiety, Karl being equally apprehensive about the
result. Neither could do anything to aid or rescue him, as they were
unarmed--both having dropped their pieces when ascending the tree.
I have said that Karl was as uneasy about the result as his brother. He
was even more so. It was not that he liked Ossaroo better, or would
have more bitterly lamented his fate, had the latter perished by the
proboscis of the elephant. No, that was not the reason; but simply that
Karl more clearly comprehended the danger in which the shikaree was
placed.
After watching the efforts of the elephant for a short time, Caspar had
become convinced that the animal could not reach Ossaroo--so long as the
latter preserved his balance upon the summit of the rock. Karl was
equally satisfied of this; and both by their shouts kept encouraging the
shikaree to stand firm. But Karl soon noted another circumstance, which
was as yet unperceived by Caspar, and it was this that was inspiring him
with keener apprehension than that felt by his brother. He had noticed
that, each time as the elephant erected himself against the obelisk, the
rock seemed slightly to shake. Ossaroo was himself well aware of the
circumstance--and more troubled at it than any of them--for it rendered
it more difficult for him to preserve his equilibrium. Caspar at length
also observed the trembling of the rock, but it gave him no particular
uneasiness: as, after what had passed, he felt confident that Ossaroo
would be able to keep his place. Nor was it the fear of his falling in
that way that was distressing the young botanist; but rather a deduction
which he drew from the circumstance, not apparent to the less
philosophic mind of his brother.
The shaking of the rock had suggested to Karl a dangerous contingency.
What was it? The speech addressed by him at that moment to Caspar will
explain.
"Oh, brother!" he exclaimed, on perceiving the danger, "if the rock
should fall--"
"No danger of that," said Caspar, interrupting him; "it stands firm
enough. True, I see it shake a little, but only a very little; and that
only when the brute springs up against it. No danger, I should think!"
"But I fear there is clanger," rejoined Karl, in a tone of undiminished
anxiety. "Not," added he, "so long as the elephant acts as he is doing;
but he may not continue thus. These creatures are wonderfully
sagacious; and if he only perceives that the pillar moves under his
weight, a new idea may get into his brain, and then it will be all up
with Ossaroo."
"Ha! I begin to comprehend you," said Caspar, beginning to share the
alarm of his brother. "There is danger in that. What is to be done?
If we only had our guns up here, we might open fire on the brute.
Whether we succeeded in killing him or not, we might at all events
divert his attention from Ossaroo, and perhaps hinder him from thinking
of the plan you speak of. We might go down and get our guns. What is
to hinder us?--the elephant is too busy to notice us."
"True--an excellent idea of yours, brother Caspar."
"Well, then, to put it in execution. I shall slip down to the ground;
you follow to the lowest branch, and I can hand the guns up to you.
Keep steady, and don't you fear, Ossy!" added the young hunter in a
louder voice, addressing himself to the shikaree. "We'll fetch him away
from you directly--we'll tickle him with an ounce or two of lead through
that thick hide of his."
So saying, Caspar commenced letting himself rapidly down from branch to
branch, Karl following more leisurely.
Caspar had got upon the lowest limb of the tree, and Karl on that
immediately above it, when a loud crash, accompanied by a piercing
shriek, arrested the progress of both, causing them suddenly to turn
their faces towards the obelisk. During the short time that their eyes
had been averted from it, a complete change had taken place in that
curious tableau. Instead of a tall column of stone, standing
twenty-feet perpendicular, the same column was now seen lying along the
earth in a nearly horizontal position, with a huge mass of broken boughs
and branches of trees crushed under its top. Near its base, now
upturned and standing almost vertically, was the elephant, no longer on
its hind feet, nor yet on all fours, but down upon its back, kicking its
huge hoofs in the air, and making the most stupendous efforts to recover
its legs. Ossaroo was nowhere to be seen!
The contingency dreaded by Karl had come to pass. The elephant, finding
it impossible to reach the shikaree with its trunk--and no doubt judging
by the "feel" that the rock was not immobile--had at length dropped down
on all fours and, placing its broad shoulder against it, backed by the
enormous weight of its bulky body, had sent the column crashing among
the tops of a chestnut tree growing near--the trunk of which, yielding
to the weight, gave way with a crash, and trunk, limbs, and branches
were all borne downward to the earth!
The elephant itself, not calculating that it should find the task so
easy of performance, had fallen at the same time--its cumbrous body
losing balance by the impetus which it had thrown into the effort. In
short, of the four objects that formed the tableau--rock and tree,
quadruped and man--not one was standing any longer in its place--for it
is superfluous to say that Ossaroo had gone down with the obelisk.
But where was Ossaroo? That was the question that occurred to both Karl
and Caspar.
"Oh! brother!" groaned Caspar, "I fear he is killed!"
Karl made no reply; but for all that, Caspar's reflection, delivered in
a loud tone, was not left without rejoinder. Directly after the phrase
had issued from his lips, an answer was heard proceeding from among the
branches of the fallen chestnut tree, in a voice and with words that
caused the hearts of the brothers to beat with joy.
"No, young sahibs," replied the unseen Ossaroo; "me no killee, me no bit
damage. If I only can get pass de old rogue, I safe and sound as ibber.
Here go for run!"
At the same moment the shikaree was seen shooting out from among the
branches under which he had been for the time buried; and, then running
with all his might towards the tree upon which the brothers had found
refuge.
Long before the elephant could regain its feet, Ossaroo had reached a
position of perfect security among the upper branches of the great tree;
which Karl and Caspar, no longer thinking of their guns, had also
re-ascended.