CHAPTER XXIII

THE BULL ELEPHANT

"LISTEN, Logula," said the Colonel. "This is my answer. At the setting of the sun we will be at your kraal. If there are twenty of your men whose hearts are not filled with water, let them be ready to drive the bull elephant and the cow elephants up to the iron tubes that smoke of the mighty hunters. I have spoken."

The deputation made obeisance and withdrew, obviously impressed by the determination and confidence of the white man to rid the district of these formidable beasts.

"May we go too, sir?" asked Colin eagerly.

Colonel Narfield hesitated.

"Yes," he replied, after deliberation; "but only on certain conditions. This is a very risky business, and you are quite inexperienced at this sort of game. I know you've both plenty of pluck, but that isn't everything. An African elephant has a brute of a temper. His Indian cousin is a lamb compared with him, and it requires a tremendous amount of nerve to aim accurately at a ponderous beast charging on you at full tilt. Usually a man has an almost irresistible tendency to cut and run for it; in which case, unless there is ample cover of a very solid nature, he is quickly overtaken and trampled underfoot. Isn't that so, Van der Wyck?"

"Ja," agreed the Afrikander solemnly; "but there, Colonel Narfield, I have an advantage. Although I am active in many ways, I cannot run. Therefore I must stand my ground. There is one good thing. It is no longer necessary to have a heavy elephant-gun. Mine, I remember, served me badly once. It missed fire, and a bull elephant was but thirty paces off. Fortunately, there was a strong tree handy; but even then the brute nearly uprooted it, and it was all I could do to hold on to a big branch without being shaken off."

"How did you escape?" asked Tiny.

"I remained where I was for four long hours," replied Van der Wyck. "Then three of my companions came to look for me. One of them broke the elephant's foreleg with a bullet in the knee. It took three more shots with a heavy elephant-gun to finish the brute."

"That was before explosive bullets came into use, I take it?" inquired Colonel Narfield.

"Yes," answered the old man, "long before; and a man could not depend upon the ammunition as he does nowadays. But, even then, it is a risky business for inexperienced men, this elephant-hunting."

"You hear that, boys?" asked Colonel Narfield. "You can come with us on conditions--that you keep at least a hundred paces behind Van der Wyck and me when we're following the spoor, and leave the shooting to us."

Colin and Desmond accepted the terms, although inwardly they jibbed, considering it hard lines to have to be content to remain passive spectators in the killing of a bull elephant. It was a case of half a loaf being better than no bread.

For the next couple of hours Colonel Narfield was engaged in overhauling his rifles and ammunition. The rifles were of .303 bore, firing an explosive bullet with a hard steel point. One of the rifles he lent to Van der Wyck, whose own gun was of a Mauser pattern and unable to take the explosive ammunition.

Colin and Tiny also took their sporting rifles, with bullets of an expanding type.

Accompanying the party were the three Haussas and a Cape Kaffir, told off to act as bearer to Van der Wyck. All were mounted on small, wiry ponies, although the actual hunt was to be performed on foot.

With several minutes to the good, Colonel Narfield's party arrived at Sibenga's Kraal, for although the chief was dead the village still went by the same name until Logula had fully established his claim to the chieftainship.

There was no lack of evidence of the destructive visits of the three elephants. Acres of maize and millet had been trampled down; the palisade surrounding the village had been uprooted in several places, leaving gaps ten or twelve yards in length; while in two instances the huts had been levelled to the ground.

Most of the inhabitants, including all the women and children, had fled for safety to the summit of a lofty crag about two miles away, but Logula had carried out Colonel Narfield's instructions and had gathered together twenty young warriors.

Of these, ten were selected to act as torch-bearers, the remainder having to be in attendance with their spears in case they were attacked. The natives were all excited, their fears being to a great extent banished when they found that the Great One and his companions had arrived with their death-dealing rifles.

Leaving the horses at the village, the Colonel's party set out. Van der Wyck and Colonel Narfield led, followed by Colin and Tiny and the inseparable Tenpenny Nail and Blue Fly, while the natives flocked in the rear.

There was no difficulty in following the spoor. The ground was somewhat marshy, and in places the massive feet of the elephants had sunk inches deep in the soft soil.

One thing was evident. The animals had wandered into a sort of natural _cul de sac_ between two ridges of precipitous rock, the bottle-neck opening into a wide track of reed-covered ground nearly five miles in length and averaging three in breadth.

At the entrance to this trap some of the natives were told to build a barrier of fire and to take good care to keep it well alight. Before the march was resumed, the hunters had the satisfaction of seeing a wall of flame blazing fiercely and completely sealing the only exit possible for the huge, ferocious beasts.

"You are sure that there is no way out at the other end?" inquired Van der Wyck.

"The natives say not," replied Colonel Narfield. "Of course, I know that telling lies is, with them, as easy as winking when it serves their purpose. But we're doing them a good turn, so it's to their advantage to speak the truth."

It wanted a good three hours to the setting of the moon, but there was sufficient light to follow the spoor--the three-toed and four-toed prints in the ground, for, unlike the Indian elephant, the African one has but three toes on his hind feet.

Presently, after the hunters had advanced about a mile, the almost indescribable trumpeting of a bull elephant disturbed the silence of the tropical night.

"Now, you fellows," exclaimed Colonel Narfield, addressing Colin and Tiny, "see that tree? You'll get a comprehensive view of the show from the lowermost branch. Up you go, and don't forget the safety-catches of your rifles. The brute's in that scrub, and I'm sending the beaters to drive him this way."

If the truth be told, the lads were not sorry to take to the tree. The stupendous trumpeting rather "gave them the breeze," and the knowledge that they were in a place of security and not confronted by the possibility of facing a huge elephant in the open was decidedly comforting.

Waving flaming torches, seven or eight natives worked round to the back of the patch of long grass surrounding a hollow. In the centre of the hollow was a shallow pool, in which the elephant was disporting himself, and consequently his enormous bulk was invisible from the spot where the Colonel and Van der Wyck had taken their stand.

Suddenly the trumpeting ceased. The elephant had scented danger.

{Illustration: "HIS FOOT CAUGHT IN A TRAILING TENDRIL AND HE CRASHED HEAVILY" [_p_. 174}

Until the brute made up his mind what course to pursue he remained silent, and the silence was almost as disquieting to the inexperienced youths as had been the terrific trumpeting.

In about a quarter of an hour a dense smoke rose sullenly in the moonlit air. The natives were firing the grass in order to smoke the elephant from his cover. Then arose the yells and shouts of the beaters as they advanced through the scrub, waving their torches and gesticulating like demons.

Above the uproar rose the loud bellowing of the now infuriated animal. Nearer and nearer came the sound, until above the waving grass appeared a dark grey mountain of flesh--one of the biggest bull elephants that Colonel Narfield had ever seen.

Clear of the scrub, the huge beast paused irresolutely. Then he caught sight of the Colonel standing in the open with his rifle held at the ready. It was a mute challenge, and the elephant promptly picked up the gage.

Bellowing furiously and waving his trunk in the air, the ponderous animal charged. To the watchers in the tree it seemed incredible that such a heavily-built brute could move at such a pace as it did.

They had previously imagined an elephant to be a slow-moving beast, with an average speed of five miles an hour. This one was charging at a pace equal at least to that of a trotting horse.

Colonel Narfield waited until the elephant was sixty yards away. Then slowly and deliberately raising his rifle to his shoulder, he pressed the trigger.

An involuntary cry burst from Colin's lips as his quick ear caught the sound of a faint click. The cartridge was a "dud"--a defective one.

In a trice the Colonel ejected the cartridge and replaced it with another. The elephant was now but thirty yards away. Again the striker clicked ineffectively.

Realising that his one chance lay in seeking flight--for there was not time to place a third cartridge into the breech and fire--Colonel Narfield threw aside the now useless weapon and took to his heels. Before he had covered half a dozen yards his foot caught in a trailing tendril, and he crashed heavily on the ground.