Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1892-12-08
Saint Maru's Beacon
By Lieatenant oolons. zzorndiks.

freed BY an elephant. But freeing
an elephant is a very different mat
ter.
Away in the peninsula Of Malay,
in the south of the Kingdom of
Siam, in the midst of q vast tropi-
cal jungle, there stands o great
stone bungalow. 1t is the home
of a wealthy trader and q small
army of native~ servants who are
constantly hunting elephants.
While | was his guest he arranged
for hunt in which he was to take
part himself, while i was to enjoy
a reserved seat upon the branch Of
an enormous tree and watch the
sport.
We made a days march through
the denscly tangled jungle, rested
for the night in bark tents and
started early in the morning with a
company Of Malays along the bank
of q river, where the forest was
more open and the trees larger.
In time we came upon four dusky
forms out in the water, rolling &
bout snorting, whistling and squirt
ing water over each other.
They're only females and babies,
said the trader. we would not
touch one of them for the world.
But get up into this tree here. This
is good one. There'll be an old
tusker about somewhere, and you
shall see some fine sport
While / settled myself in place
of safety he Invested himself Of his
clothing and stood in strong san
dals, brown tights and q small tur-
ban, armed with a short knife.
| had not waited long when a
series of sharp cries sounded from
the trader and the Malays, succeed
ed by the hoarse, shrill whistle of
an angry elephant and a fierce
crashing through the distant un-
dergrowth.
A moment later through the
branches | could see the head of o
grand tusker elephant, with his
trunk thrown high in the air, slash
ing the branches out Of his way as
he dashed one way and another,
constantly coming nearer and near
er.
The very ground seemed to shake
under him as he hurled his enor-
nous body this way and that, grow
ing more and more furious as he
vainly tried to reach something
lodging about in the underground.
Then, to my horror, l discovered
my friend not Is feet away from
that huge trunk as it flew through
the air in savage attempts to strike
him.
For an instant l was paralysed
with fear. The next l threw my
rifle to my shoulder, waiting only
an instant to insure my aim, when,
with heavy laugh, waving his
hand, the trader shouted:
Don't fire. Keep your balance,
and well have him freed in half a
minute
The trunk came flying through
the air with a furious whirl and
passed within 10 feet of him as he
lodged.
My blood ran cold. / sprang to
my feet and clutchedb the branch
above my head as they made q
straight dash for the the tree be-
meath me, the elephant, fairly furi-
Gus, reaching within five feet of my
friend. He was leaping forward,
directly for the trunk Of the tree.
lie could never climb it before that
giant would be upon him.
One leap more must be his last!
What! He touched the massive
tree with his extended hands and
like flash swung himself about it.
The next instant, with Q crash
which almost sent me from my
perch, the furious beast banged,
head first, against the gnarled trunk
and stood still, for an instant,
while trader on the other side
roared with laughter, gasping.
THAT was good straight one,
wasn't it?'
Then followed the most magnifi-
cent spectacle of towering rage
which | have ever seen, as the ele-
plant began to hurl his huge body
about that tree, among the great
twisted roots, lashing it with his
trunk, gouging it with his tusks
and exasperating himself more and