Big Game Shooting, volume 1 (of 2)Phillipps-Wolley, Clive
General
Big Game Shooting, volume 1 (of 2)
Phillipps-Wolley, Clive
Game and game-birds; Hunting
We lit our pipes and smoked quietly for a time, and then remembered
that we had breakfasted early and that we ought to be hungry and
thirsty. The Kafirs suggested that as the elephants had probably come
from the water in the morning, we should find some in their stomachs,
and they immediately set to work and opened a large tusker that was
lying close to our bivouac. They found what they sought and, after a
good pull, invited me to partake. I was very thirsty, and they seemed
to have enjoyed their drink, so, by their directions, placing a small
bunch of grass as a filter, I took a mouthful, but--well! I immediately
got rid of it--it was simply nitric acid. As the elephant was opened,
however, the men were not going without dinner, and though I dare say
it was horrible, there was at the same time something grand in the
sight of the dark forest, lit sufficiently by the ruddy firelight to
deepen the gloom beyond, with the naked savages, their blazing torches
in their hands, walking about inside the cavernous ribs. A few choice
morsels from the undercut of the sirloin broiled on the embers made
a palatable supper, and, putting our feet to the blaze, we all fell
asleep.
_Whiz!_ ‘tao!’ _whiz!_ woke me some time during the night, and, sitting
up, I found the Kafirs throwing brands from the fire and shouting. A
lion, no doubt attracted by the smell of blood, was tearing at the
inside of the disembowelled elephant. I just got a glimpse of him,
but it was too momentary for a shot. We slept, and were not again
disturbed. I gave the dead beasts to the Ba Lala who had brought the
information, telling them to send me the tusks, and returned to my
waggon. The dozen were duly delivered in four or five days’ time,
though the waggons had gone fifty miles farther down the Limpopo.
It was always so. Once the chief of a large tribe of Bushmen came
running--as we were inspanning for the march--with a request that I
would shoot two elephants, which he had just seen coming up from the
river, for him and his people. I was very unwilling to stop the trek;
telling the men therefore to go on, and saying I would overtake them,
I jumped on a horse and went off with my Bushman, he keeping well in
front, though I was making a sharp canter of it. Through the bush,
on to the open plain, and the game was in view. I dashed ahead. One
had good tusks, and I settled down to him. He soon turned on me. I
had been shooting buffalo the night before, and as there was only an
ordinary charge in the gun, wishing to get rid of it, I fired at long
range--forty yards, I dare say. The horse was fidgety, and the ball
struck eight or ten inches below the backbone; to my astonishment,
the bull took one stride and settled down quite dead. The bullet had
cut the aorta. His companion had such small teeth I let him go free,
and, making the carcase over to my Bushman, who was astounded at the
easy way the animal had been disposed of, and telling him to keep the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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