Quests (Expeditions) -- Juvenile fiction; Rangoon (Burma) -- Juvenile fiction; Young men -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction
All this passed directly below Jack's horrified eyes. The pad-elephant
was so frightened at the advent of this savage specimen of his own
species, that he had turned stupid and made no attempt to obey his
driver's orders. Instead, he turned and backed slowly from the place,
keeping his head towards the "rogue." Thus Jack saw the ferocious
brute swiftly crush the life out of the man upon whom he knelt, then
leap up and rush back to the spot where the two ponies and the rider
who had used the _dah_ were still lying on the ground.
The ponies had both been trodden on in that terrific charge, and the
man, untouched by the elephant, had been flung three or four yards,
and lay half-stunned by his fall. As he scrambled to his feet the
"rogue" was upon him. With a scream of rage the maddened brute bent
down his huge head and delivered a sweeping stroke with his tusk. The
great sharp spear of ivory struck the man in the back and was driven
clean through the body. The elephant raised his head and swung the man
high above the ground. Jack shuddered as he saw the writhing figure
impaled on that huge tusk.
For a moment the elephant held his victim aloft as if in triumph, then
with a swing of his head he hurled the man far away, and looked round
for fresh victims. At the next moment the earth shook under his tread
as he thundered down upon the pad-elephant and the burden it bore.
"Cut me loose!" roared Jack to the half-caste. "What chance have I
got, tied to this howdah?"
But Saya Chone, ashen with fear, clung to the edge of the car, and had
eyes and ears for nothing save for the great beast charging full upon
them. Jack hurled himself to and fro, trying to slacken a little the
bonds which held him a prisoner under such fearful circumstances. If
the pad-elephant would only make a fight of it, there would be a
chance for its riders to slip down and escape, but how could Jack help
himself?
As the "rogue" made his last few sweeping strides upon them, the
pad-elephant seemed to pluck up the courage of desperation. He was a
fine, big, powerful fellow, though not equal in size to his wild
enemy, and now he took a step or two forward, threw out his huge
forehead, and met his enemy in full career.
The crash as the two huge beasts charged into each other was
tremendous. The pad-elephant was driven back half a dozen yards, but
he kept his feet. Then the two immense creatures, head braced to head
and tusks locked in tusks, began a steady trial of strength, each
striving to force the other back.
Now Saya Chone plucked out his heavy revolver, and, leaning over the
edge of the howdah, began to fire swiftly into the head and body of
the savage "rogue." But though the bullets cut deeply into the flesh,
and the blood spouted freely, the big brute troubled nothing about
that. As far as reaching any vital part went, the revolver might have
been a pop-gun, and the wild elephant gave himself up entirely to the
struggle with his tame brother.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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