Household words, No. 17, July 20, 1850 : $b A weekly journal
General
Household words, No. 17, July 20, 1850 : $b A weekly journal
English literature -- Periodicals
The hunters were presently discovered. “An old lioness, who seemed to
take the lead, had detected me, and, with her head high and her eyes
fixed full upon me, she was coming slowly round the corner of the little
vley to cultivate further my acquaintance! This unfortunate coincidence
put a stop at once to all further contemplation. I thought, in my haste,
that it was perhaps most prudent to shoot this lioness, especially as
none of the others had noticed me. I accordingly moved my arm and
covered her; she saw me move and halted, exposing a full broadside. I
fired; the ball entered one shoulder, and passed out behind the other.
She bounded forward with repeated growls, and was followed by her five
comrades all enveloped in a cloud of dust; nor did they stop until they
had reached the cover behind me, except one old gentleman, who halted
and looked back for a few seconds, when I fired, but the ball went high.
I listened anxiously for some sound to denote the approaching end of the
lioness; nor listened in vain. I heard her growling and stationary, as
if dying. In one minute her comrades crossed the vley a little below me,
and made towards the rhinoceros. I then slipped Wolf and Boxer on her
scent, and, following them into the cover, I found her lying dead.”
Mr. Cumming’s adventures with elephants are no less thrilling. He had
selected for the aim of his murderous rifle two huge female elephants
from a herd. “Two of the troop had walked slowly past at about sixty
yards, and the one which I had selected was feeding with two others on a
thorny tree before me. My hand was now as steady as the rock on which it
rested, so, taking a deliberate aim, I let fly at her head, a little
behind the eye. She got it hard and sharp, just where I aimed, but it
did not seem to affect her much. Uttering a loud cry, she wheeled about,
when I gave her the second ball, close behind the shoulder. All the
elephants uttered a strange rumbling noise, and made off in a line to
the northward at a brisk ambling pace, their huge fanlike ears flapping
in the ratio of their speed. I did not wait to load, but ran back to the
hillock to obtain a view. On gaining its summit, the guides pointed out
the elephants; they were standing in a grove of shady trees, but the
wounded one was some distance behind with another elephant, doubtless
its particular friend, who was endeavouring to assist it. These
elephants had probably never before heard the report of a gun; and
having neither seen nor smelt me, they were unaware of the presence of
man, and did not seem inclined to go any further. Presently my men hove
in sight, bringing the dogs; and when these came up, I waited some time
before commencing the attack, that the dogs and horses might recover
their wind. We then rode slowly towards the elephants, and had advanced
within two hundred yards of them, when, the ground being open, they
observed us, and made off in an easterly direction; but the wounded one
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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