"Thou monarch of beasts, thou king of the woods,
Thou dangerous beast in thy angry moods,
Thou elephant strong, thou form of great might,
Behold Kalulu before thee for fight!
I've come from the green groves of Liemba,
From the country of old Loralamba,
With magic from Soltali Mganga [Magic Doctor],
The surest and best of his Uganga [Magic Medicine].
Then look at that sun, look at the pool
In which thou didst revel, and think so cool;
Look on that forest, and look on this grass.
The sweetest and best of this wide morass;
No more shalt thou see the sun or the pool,
No more shalt thou revel in waters cool,
No more shalt thou walk in the forest's shade,
No more shalt thou delight in forest glade,
No more shalt thou daintily feed on the grass
Of the plain, or jungle, or this morass!
Soltali the Mganga cannot lie:
Young Kalulu is here! prepare to die!"
As he finished his song his head was violently thrown back, the right
arm was drawn to its length, and the bright spear-head, flashing once,
twice, white sun-glints, was buried deep in the elephant's chest. A
loud shout greeted the brave effort; and at the instant the elephant
felt the keen sharp iron in him, he uttered a loud trumpet-note of rage,
and charged, clearing at one bound several strides of a man.
"Be off, Kalulu, thou brave prince of the Watuta! Hie away young hero!
Stay not to count thy steps, thou dusky chief! Spring out, my boy; run
as thou didst never run before! Impel thy haunches on--lift thy feet
clear from the ground; out with thy chest--set thy head far back! Let
thy lungs inhale free the rushing air! Beware of a stumble, else the
tale is ended! Ha! well done--at right angles now! So; see the
elephant charges the empty air, and runs headlong after vacancy! Now,
warriors, is our time, with a whoop, and the shrill cry of the Watuta!"
Such were the words that could be distinguished from the noise and
tumult produced by the charge. Twenty spears had been launched into the
elephant's body to distract his attention, and had it not been for
Soltali's good advice to "turn at right angles away," the elephant would
soon have overtaken the daring young chief; but, by his dexterous and
easy movement to the right, the monster had charged on far ahead before
he became aware that his enemy had escaped him.
When he turned round he found the hunters like a cloud about him; he
found himself isolated from his herd; the other elephants having charged
in another direction in fury and fright to meet an enemy in another
guise, and with different weapons. While the elephant seemed to take
this all at a glance, a loud report was heard, which sounded like a
volley of fire-arms; but he, unheeding the sound, charged again, with
irresistible power, at his nearest foe, only to be foiled once more by
the ever-evading, ever-shifting figures of his remorseless enemies.
Again and again he charged, only to receive new wounds, an additional
shower of spears and barbed arrows, which tormented him cruelly; until,
fatigued with the unusual speed, faint from loss of blood, he stood
stock still, confronting his enemies, defiant and still dreadful, though
the spears and arrows in his body might have been counted by hundreds.
Heedful of the prudent counsel of old Soltali, the Watuta drew back, but
still surrounding him, awaiting his fall. They had not to wait long,
before they saw his body oscillate from side to side, and the left knee
bend, as if he were getting weak; then he staggered forward, rose up
again, and finally rolled on his side--dead, crushing the spears in his
side like straws in his fall.
Leaving the Watuta to indulge in their self-glorification, let us
proceed to see how the other three, Selim, Simba, and Moto, fared.
Moto, as the three left the Watuta, drew alongside of Selim, and
whispered some words in his ears, how to conduct himself, to reserve his
fire, and to fire at the last elephant which would pass him, aiming
behind his ears, which, of course, would be standing straight out,
giving him an ample opportunity and a good target to fire at. Selim,
faithfully promising, was placed behind a tree at the furthest end of
the cleared ground in the neighbourhood of the pool. Simba chose one a
few yards off, further still to the left, and Moto another tree twenty
yards to the left of Simba; and in this position they waited the
denouement.
Selim could see the swaying form and nodding plumes of Kalulu, could
hear the death-song, and with his finger on the two triggers of his gun,
which was heavily loaded specially for this purpose, stood behind his
tree waiting. Soon he saw Kalulu launch his spear, saw the charge and
flight, heard the deafening noise, and while his heart palpitated fast,
and his pulses throbbed, and his ears tingled, came the affrighted
animals of the herd, charging in fear and fury by him. Obediently he
waited, according to orders, until the last elephant was passing his
position, then, stilling the heart's palpitation and the wildly beating
pulse, full of trust and confidence in the powers of his English gun, he
deliberately aimed behind the elephant's ears, and fired both barrels at
once. The concussion knocked him down; but, while falling, he saw his
elephant stumble and fall on his head in a motionless heap, stone dead.
Picking himself hastily up, and snatching his gun, he stayed a moment to
take in how matters stood; and finding the elephants in full flight, two
limping laggards behind, and Simba and Moto following, he began to load
his gun again with equally heavy charges as those he had in it
previously; and having placed the caps carefully on, and taking a glance
of pride at the game he had "bagged," he ran after Simba and Moto. His
two friends he found firing, running, and loading as fast as they could;
not a very hard task when the animals were so badly wounded. His nimble
feet soon carried him nearer them, and after dodging and running as he
had been directed to, as he was pursued by one or the other of the
elephants, he had the satisfaction at last of seeing both stand still.
Retreating a little distance from view, he took a circuit round, and
then returned, taking advantage of every tree, and by great caution
succeeded in coming behind a large tree at the distance of twelve paces
from one of them. Lifting his gun, already cocked, to his shoulders, he
took aim again behind the ears, and fired the two barrels once more,
which was met with the same fatal result, for the elephant, after
beating the air with his forelegs for a short time, swayed pitifully,
and fell over, dead.
But Selim had no time to make these observations, for the other elephant
turned short round and charged at the tree. Selim stood his ground
until the tree had almost been reached, when, dropping the gun on the
ground, he started off for another tree, the elephant in hot pursuit
after him. To the right, to the left, forwards and backwards, from tree
to tree, Selim ran, until the elephant, to his astonishment, suddenly
stopped, the hind-legs doubled under him, the forelegs bent, and his
head came to the ground heavily, and in this kneeling position the poor
elephant breathed his last.
Selim had his gun brought to him by Simba, who lavished praises, almost
fulsome, on his bravery and accuracy of shooting, in which Moto, who now
came up, joined with heart and spirit. Simba, while he embraced his
young master, would have it that Selim was the best elephant hunter
known; there never was such an Arab boy before, who shot two elephants
dead one after another. "And thou must consider, Moto," said he,
apologetically, "Selim is but sixteen; if he shoots two elephants, one
after another, when he is sixteen, what will he do when he is a grown
man?"
"True," answered Moto, "when he is double his age he will shoot four one
after another. Selim is a great hunter truly. I wonder what the Watuta
have done. Whisht! hear their cries! Their elephant is dead. We must
go to see them. Or do thou stop with Selim to watch these whilst I go
to tell them what our young master has done. Say, Simba, how much money
would the ivory of these three elephants bring at Zanzibar, dost thou
think?"
"I know not. How many frasilah dost thou think there are in the three?"
asked Simba.
"Somewhere about twelve, I should say? Twelve frasilah of ivory at 50
dollars the frasilah (35 pounds) would make how much?" asked Moto.
"I don't know--plenty, I suppose," said Simba; "but Selim knows."
"Twelve fifties will make 600--six hundred dollars," answered Selim.
"Six hundred dollars! What a pity we cannot carry it to Zanzibar!" said
Moto. "I shall be back directly."
Moto bounded away lightly towards the pool, and in a short time in the
middle of the plain beyond he saw the Watuta in a group cutting and
slashing at the dead elephant, with noise and excitement enough to
frighten every elephant for miles around.
When he approached, the Watuta gathered about him, and Kalulu pointed
exultantly at the dead beast into which he had driven the first spear,
and Kalulu then asked what luck they had had.