BIG GAME
When the New Year had come, all preparations being satisfactorily
completed, our friends set forth upon their second journey; feeling
themselves so much better equipped, and so much more experienced in both
travelling, and speaking the necessary languages, that they started in
the highest spirits.
Mr. Gilchrist enforced various strict regulations, with regard to the
safety of his party.
None were to wander alone, far from the rest; none to start off upon
independent explorations; all were to carry upon their persons, at all
times, suitable firearms, always ready for use; ample supply of charges
for them; hunting-knives in good order; and a small supply of food, in
case of accident.
Native villages were plentifully scattered upon their road,--English
stations not unfrequent. The weather was agreeable, and all promised
well.
The party was successful in finding many rare orchids; so that, though
their progress was slow, they were content.
They did not cross the river Salween, preferring to proceed along its
banks northwards, and to search the rocky country upon its eastern side
for some distance first, as the plants seemed to be of a different
character there from those which they had already collected; and the
cessation of traffic upon the river, in consequence of the frequent
rapids in it, rendered a passage across it difficult.
Mr. Gilchrist perceived that, from the solitary character of this
district, it was one in which they might possibly meet with danger from
wild beasts; but he thought it unlikely that any such creatures would
attack so large a number of people, or could not easily be beaten off if
they did.
At first the whole party was wary; but, seeing no big game, they became
less apprehensive of danger.
Many peacocks and other birds were met with, and Ralph became quite an
adept in shooting them. Their flesh made a welcome variety in the
commissariat department.
One day his gun was heard popping at a short distance; and Wills began
to prepare a peeled wand, to serve as spit upon which to roast the
expected treat, when the lad burst through the bushes in great
excitement, his blue eyes blazing from his sunburnt, flushed face,
beneath his dark waves of hair.
"Come quickly!" he shouted. "Come at once! Here is a whole herd of
elephants crossing the river! Such a sight!"
All hurried after him. It was a fine sight. There must have been twenty
or thirty elephants, with their trunks uplifted in air, swimming across
where the water was tolerably quiet and still. One old female had a baby
elephant with her, and encouraged the little one as she went with sounds
that the young one might consider words of advice or caution.
"Oh, see, see!" cried Ralph. "There are more young ones, but bigger. How
carefully the old ones guard them. I wonder why they are going across! I
am glad they are not coming this way."
"They go over to feed on big tree, paya," said one of the Burmese.
"Elephant like juicy branches of trees like those."
In effect, the whole herd began to feed at once upon reaching the
farther shore. They could reach the tender boughs at the tops of the
largest trees by stretching their trunks. They tore them down, and ate
them with vast relish.
None of the Englishmen had ever before seen wild elephants in a natural
state, and were deeply interested in watching them.
Suddenly a terrible noise was heard approaching them from behind; an
angry, surly "Hunf, Hunf," which struck terror into their hearts, even
before they saw a huge infuriated elephant coming, crashing and tearing
its sullen way through the undergrowth.
"Fly! fly!" cried Mr. Gilchrist.
"Ameh! ameh!" shrieked the Burmans.
"Lord defend us!" exclaimed Osborn.
"Maister Ralph, Maister Ralph! Thee'rt just in his road!" vociferated
Wills. The old man rushed forward and fired at the monstrous creature.
The elephant turned and charged down upon his assailant.
"Run, run; I'm all right!" he cried. "Run, my son, run!"
Ralph fled. He was standing a little apart from the rest, and escaped up
a gulley or defile among the rocks, in a different direction from that
taken by the others. They made for a group of rocks a little separated
from the range among which they were orchid hunting; a few trees grew in
a clump hard by. Wills alone was left at the mercy of the raging
creature.
The trees formed his only chance of shelter, and he doubled, flying back
towards them. Panting, labouring for breath, he just reached the tiny
grove, and concealed himself behind a mighty bole. Hidden from immediate
view there, he slipped backwards, and doubled again behind another,
just as the elephant, with a tramp that shook the earth beneath him, ran
full tilt at the first tree, set his shoulder against it, and levelled
it to the ground.
At the same moment, above the crashing and rending of timber, the
splitting of branches, and the trumpeting of the mad brute, came the
clear ping! ping! of two rifles, as Mr. Gilchrist and Osborn both took
aim, and hit the creature in the shoulder. Wills fired, at the same
moment, from behind his shelter upon the other side, and a trickle of
red blood upon the elephant's flapping ear bore witness to the justness
of his aim.
In the next moment, Gilchrist's and Osborn's second barrels rang out;
and a volley of small shot from the rest of the party peppered the great
mass, which, at such near quarters, it would have been difficult to
miss.
It seemed to be too hot a place for the intruder. With an awful cry of
anger and pain it shambled heavily to the river's bank, plunged into the
stream, and swam down it.
The distant echo of a gun was heard at the same moment, up the defile,
but no one attended to it, for the form of old Wills was seen to sway,
to totter, and to sink upon the ground.
Had he been injured? Had he trod upon a snake? Had some other poisonous
reptile or insect attacked him? His friends, in the greatest anxiety,
hurried up to him, raised his prostrate figure, and found him in a deep
swoon.
Osborn ran for water; Mr. Gilchrist supported him in his arms, and
called to the chief coolie to fetch his brandy flask.
The Burman implored the master not to arouse the insensible man until
his "butterfly spirit" returned to its mortal prison-house, but no heed
was paid to him; and presently Wills opened his eyes, with a bewildered
expression, and looked around.
"Where is the boy?" he asked. "Is the boy safe?"
No one could answer him, for Denham was not there. What had become of
him?
It was no time for seeking him then, however; none of the men supposed
that he was very far off, or in further danger now that the solitary
elephant had gone down the river.
"He is all right," said Mr. Gilchrist soothingly. "He'll be here in a
minute. Let us take you back to the bullock-gharrie, you must lie down
in the shade."
Wills offered no resistance, but he could not stand; he was trembling
from head to foot. The men constructed a hasty litter with their rifles,
some branches, and grass; they laid Wills upon it, and carried him back
to the spot where their gharrie was in waiting for them.
Though certainly clear-headed, and quite himself for a few minutes after
he first came out of his swoon, a confusion seemed to overpower his mind
again, and his speech was not distinct. Mr. Gilchrist felt very uneasy,
as he feared that the sudden shock had induced some form of a stroke;
and he knew himself wholly unfit to deal with a matter so serious.
He called up the Burman, and asked him where the nearest doctor was
likely to live.
"At English station, paya," replied the man; "one only half-day's
journey, or a little more, from here. The royal self's lord may reach it
by sky shutting-in time, if make haste."
"Is there an English doctor there?"
"Good doctor, paya; half-caste,--wise man."
There seemed nothing to do but to take Wills on to this station without
loss of time, and Mr. Gilchrist gave orders to prepare.
The day was now far advanced, no more time ought to be lost; but it
suddenly occurred to them all that Ralph was not with them. What had
become of the boy?
He had been seen flying from the elephant up the defile, as Wills had
turned the charge of the mad creature upon himself. Some of them
remembered now that the discharge of a gun had been heard afterwards up
this defile; but why had the boy not returned?
Mr. Gilchrist sent the chief Burman and some coolies to search for him.
Osborn would not leave his friend, over whom either sleep or stupor
seemed to be creeping. Gilchrist himself went, with the rest of the men
in another direction, ascending a hill which promised to afford a view
up that defile; but nothing could be seen from the thickness of the
jungle below.
They shouted, called, fired off blank cartridge,--but no response came.
Slowly, and much perplexed, they returned to the gharrie, to find Wills
growing rapidly worse. The search party came back with no news. Not a
trace of the lad could they discover; but they brought in two young
tiger cubs, that they had found lying asleep, to all appearance alone.
It was not to be supposed that two such very young cubs could have been
there, and their mother be far away; but though there was evidently a
lair there, no vestige of the parent animal was to be seen. The
certainty of such creatures being in the neighbourhood, however,
hastened the men's return. They had killed the cubs with their
hunting-knives, lest the sound of guns should have brought down the
female tiger upon them, and then they had hurried back, as fast as
possible, from desire to secure their own safety.
Had Ralph fallen a victim to these creatures? Was the absence of the
mother from her cubs due to the destruction of the poor young fellow?
Mr. Gilchrist shuddered, as he recognised the probability of this
explanation.
But one shot had been heard, and no further sound,--no cry for help, no
call, no other report of firearms. What could this mean except one
thing?
And what must he do now? Was it of any use to wait, to search further
for Ralph? To save Wills they must push on to the English station. It
would be best to do so, and return to search for the boy.
There could be little doubt but what he had fallen a victim to the
tigress; but at least some evidence to this effect might be found,--his
gun, some portion of his clothing, at least, might be there.
If he had escaped, he could have come back. He had ammunition with him,
though it might not be much, for he had shot a good supply of birds that
day. He had some biscuits with him. Finally, Mr. Gilchrist ordered a
little tent to be pitched for him, a large fire to be built up, which
would serve to mark the place from a distance, and would identify it to
himself when he returned to it. He wrote a few lines upon a piece of
paper, affixing it to the tent-pole, to desire Ralph to wait there until
he came back to join him, which should be done as soon as possible.
He would have left some of the men there, but the near neighbourhood of
tigers had terrified them out of all discipline, and every one of them
utterly refused to remain unless the royal lord stayed himself to
protect them. There was no help for it, therefore; and the party set
forth with sad and anxious hearts; the day being so far spent as to
place themselves in some peril from the possible attack of wild beasts,
coming down from their rocky fastnesses to drink at the river.
They had to keep near the banks of the stream, too; for the road was
more open there, and they could not take the bullock-gharrie through
narrow or tangled paths. As it was, poor Wills was terribly jolted very
often, but remained in a state of semi-consciousness, wandering in his
mind when aroused.
Mr. Gilchrist walked, to leave more room for Osborn to tend his friend;
but he kept near the head of the gharrie, where he could hear and see
all that went on in it. The attendants surrounded or followed, bearing
flaring torches after the darkness fell, and the anxious hours passed
on.