The Panola weekly star. (Sardis, Miss.) 1882-18??, 1885-03-28
STUCK IN THE MUD.


mon Nlh'i NuURN iuF VINO ~ lhffr thhl
has not had the misfortune. at one time
~ another 10 h. stuck In The mud morp
or le.s' And yet I have found the sIiu
alton On several occasions Of my lie
very Tar from common place indeed
rs 'picturc'que' A. any man could wish
for, and far more dangcrou. than /
liked For ! have been stuck In the
mud on clephant.back, on eamel.bick.
ON horseback. and each time that IL
happened ! found myself In somewhat
serious physical danger.
JrNrlsG rROa AN TLEpnAST
To begin with the elephant I, was
on one u the hottest days u May, one
If the hottcs, months Of the Indian year,
that found myself one OF . party start
Ing for a tgcr.iungle The tiger had
been marked down IN some elephant
grass about q mile beyond the fast
drying bed Of q small waterproof. aud
We were already In sight Of the place
where the striped monster was said to
be lying when We came to the inst Of
the water. pools.
Now. one u the dangers 10 be- guarded
against when riding on an elephant 4.
that Of the animal stepping upon boggy
ground. The elephant, as soon A. L
finds IT, feet sinking, seize, the first
thing Il can reach, and puts II under IT,
feet 10 keep Itself up. and the iirst thing.
a. a rule. i the man who Is driving III
For the elephant, the moment that It
suspects the ground 10 be- too soft 10
bear up IT. huge weight, swings it,
trunk round, and dfags the mdhoai (As
the driver is called OF it, head. and
tramplcs H. body under foot in the hops
Of saving itself.
It, next thought /, Ia drag the hoe.
dab. on which the riders III. Oh II,
back. and 10 treat IL tho matter what il
coniainsl In the same way A. the
wretchcd maA0si has been served. The
result j. that elephant-ndcs, whenever
they hear the CRY II fuss ana stuck
In the mud scramble or tumble on
the animals back as fast no they a
Wei. We were going along very slow.
ami quietly, when We came To one u
the waier.pools. The leading elephant
Of the procession passed round Il to the
left hand. But when my maAota came
up TO the place, he chose To drive my
my elephant across the pool instead Of
round H. 1t certainly looked safe
enough. There was moi drop of water
In the pool. and the surface 81 the mud
looked A. hard aud firm as a sun. baked
brick floor. Even the intelligence II
the elephant was deceived. for Just rs il
was stepping on the t~rracheruus ground,
u pulled up In a careless sort of way A
tuft ofdesd reeds. and began to switch
II idly from side 10 side as II Keeping
OF HES. The pool had very slight
depression In the center, and Just As the
elephant got In the middle 81 hist
stopped. Then came a sudden Jolt as
II the great beast had slipped. and the
next instant with a shrill cry of terror.
the elephant flung it. trunk up In the
air.
Piss gydF' shrickcd the maAoaf.
plunging Oh the elephants head TO the
ground!
Fuss gya," We shouted In response.
= We .hot of IL back,
And not a minute too soon. for the
elephant. trunk. reaching out Tor INV.
thing u could touch. 81 put under it,
ieeh had already dragged the pad half
oil u back. and had We been on II NJ
should have been flung forward. direct
y In front Of the terrified animal And
once on the ground. there would have
been but little hope for Us. But As h
was, we were saic. and by good luck we
were able 10 make the elephant safe.
too. for a dead tree was close hy. and
We gave Il a pile Of branches 10 mt
under It's fore feet, and A. o q As thc.e
were on firm footing. the huge thing
backed slowly up the bank upon solid
ground again.
Very often. however. Il happens that
an elephant stuck in the mud" can
not be rcleased-for iigcr.iungles are
often hundreds Of miles from any tope.
or planks or other life-saying ami.
ances and the poor beast has 10 he
shot where Il stands. 10 a il a lin.
gering death from starvation or A cruel
one from wild beasts. Elephants. their.
fore. arc rs a rule extraordinarily care.
iui a. to the solidi,y Of the ground they
tread on.
oS A CAMEL.
But the camel Is even more careful
Than the elephant The latter know.
tha iu graf weight Il H. danger. while
The camel i conscious u a special dan.
ger In the length q it, legS. For when
= am steps Into mud is long. thin
bony legs sink very sudden and very
deeply. and once stuck, unless Its own.
ers arc with II. there il very litttc hone
for the awkward. long.legged beast.
The crows and kites attack Is ewes. and
A. soon a night falls the wolves and
isckals find the wretchcd, helpless
creature an easy victim.
was riding = camel once, on the
border land between BeluchIstan and
Afghanistan. when I came 10 A thin
stream Of water tricklinr acros. ,ha
plain. IL wa not more than i've feet
IRON dry land 10 dry land. and ,hs
average depth Of water was. I should
say. about two inches. but al that time
Ibid not know Of the camel's ln,en..
dislike 81 crossing mud. Nor h.d I
any 'dea Of the depth Of the mud in the
stream before me. When nv esmel
therefore, refused TO cross Il, I though, /,
was bad temper. and was determined 10
conquer the animal. and compel Il 10 stem
into n shallow stream. And then I
icundt that ] was q greater fool than the
csmsi. Tor the animal made q desperate
elnmsy effort 10 iump-IH Il h possible
70 call : camel's esvorta ..mmn"-snd
landed Itself with all four feet fslrly n
- mud And then Docs /, want i,
q not .'siak'' down. or GRADUALLY .ns
~Isese.lly ssbside. On tks copsrsry' n
~ aovn '1ike . shot In ssro,d
- eae had suddeul7 and r;a'
peltee 4 hv sk~ les srrn nn.,ss
.5z-1@<ad 1 tsuna nv,,lf n M.
lrclttua q hriae rrsssd m :
- MI h ~ h. - ~