The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1892-04-28

the IOreSC III beVeTdl ulIcCIlohe, POA-
fectly reckless of the probability that
the elephant was in ambush again, but
got no track or trace of him. He
had vanished as silently and swiftly as
startled wolf.
l returned to my quarters fairly
beaten, and to learn two days later
that the elephant had killed one of
the British officers the day after kill
ing my tracker. He had ambushed
him in the same fashion and had torn
him limb from limb. 1t had now be-
como utterly impossible to hire native
assistance. At least no one would
consent to beat up the jungle with me,
and 1 saw that L must depend entirely
upon my own resources or leave the
field. In this emergency l determined
to meet "The Wicked" with his own
weapon-trickery. For several nights
he had not molested any of the viii
lages, but during each day he had
committed some depredations. His
last victim was woman, and she was
killed within two miles of where ]
was stopping. She was working in a
field with heavy fringe of bushes
along the north side. The elephant
rushed out of cover and killed her
with blow of his trunk, and was
gone before the husband, who was
working 200 feet away, got the alarm.
The night was dark and rainy, and
l hired some of the natives to go with
me and prepare the plot. We dressed
up lay figure to represent ryots
wife in the act of reaping grain. We
placed this about forty feet from the
bushes. Then at the edge of the
bushes and thirty feet away from a
straight line to the "dummy" we dug
rifle pit deep enough to hide me.
Every care was taken to leave nothing
by which the elephants suspicious
might be aroused, and as soon as the
natives retired l went to sleep. !
neither hoped nor looked for "The
Wicked" to appear during the night.
If he did, then I should miss having a
shot, and he might even find me as ]
slept and pull me out Of the hole.
The night passed without an alarm,
and was awake when daylight came.
l had an English elephant gun carry
ing a two-ounce explosive ball, and
knew that elephant was my meat if he
appeared. l was we'll covered in with
bushes and branches, but had peep
holes through which l could clearly
survey the field. 1t was 9 o'clock in
the morning before anything moved,
and had l not been watching "The
Wicked" would have played me a
sharp trick. He came out of the edge
of the Jungle just where l had hoped
he would, but so quietly that but for
seeing him l could not have credited
his presence. He covered the ground
between the jungle and the lay figure
at swift pace, and it was not until
he seized the dummy that he suspected
anything. He tossed it sky high and
wheeled to go back, and l stood up
and gave him ball behind the
shoulder. AS he received it he wheeled
and started across the grain field, but
l rolled him over before he had gone
ten yards.
The trickey old beast was dead at
last, and he had been lured to de-
struction by one of the simplest plots
ever put into practice against him. l
had to walk around him three or four
times before l could realize that he
had actually been downed. Indeed,
until the natives began to gather and
rejoice over his death, i was afraid
that l had missed the ''rogue" and
trapped some beast from a nearby
herd. He was soon fully identified,
however, as he carried several marks
by which he was we'll known. For
instance, he had deep scar across his
forehead. where bullet had furrowed
the hide, there was another ON the
trunk, where a native had once
slashed him with big knife; he had
a peculiar spot on his side, and, in
brief, there was no possibility of mis-
take. The Government paid the re-
ward without hesitation, and it no
sooner became known that the dreaded
scourge Of the valley had met his fate
than the people began to return to
| their homes, and the anniversary of