St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1900-04-21

HAISp6Itu cAclGSul5s we ASGSHSd dS d4u
no longer could we hear the bleating
cry, but twice or thrice cultural sounds
were borne on the gentle wind. 1
jumped out, courting the attacks of
myriads of mosquitoes, which pierced
through and through my pajamas, and,
taking refuge in the smoke of the fires
with the awakened natives, listened in
tensely. The sounds appeared to en-
anate from a spot about mile up the
river, and the boys said that couple
of lions had seized young buffalo
out of troop in the reeds, and, hav-
ing dragged it on TO the opposite bank,
were devouring it and growing be-
tween whiles. But was not satisfied,
for / had never before heard lion
without recognizing the sound be-
yond all doubt, whereas in this case
had many doubts.
Later on we heard renewed crash
ing among the reeds, and grunts /
failed to recognize. "That's no lion,"
! said; "buffaloes would never con-
tinue moving about and feeding con-
tentedly in the reeds close to where
lion had attacked them. I believe
it's troop of elephants" I ordered
the boys to remain quiet, and keep the
fires low, as it was evident some big
beasts were advancing in our direc-
ton. A quarter of an hour later and
the question as to their identity was
decided, as the slumbering forest rang
with the shrill, trumpet-like notes of
an elephant; then brief pause, dur
ing which the echoes still vibrated on
the calm night air, and once more
pealed forth the shrill, defiant ehal-
lenge. How that sound e1ectrifes
it sends through the heart of the hunt
er! The grand music of the lions voice
has it's special and unequa1ed charms,
but it silences camp in wonderful
way. The boys cluster round the fires,
speaking with bated breath, and glanc-
ing fearfully behind and around them
into the darkness or the deceptive
moonlight, as they strive to make the
dying fires blaze up, hardly daring to
look one another in the face if the beast
be close at hand. But the shrill chal-
lenge of an elephant excites and ex-
hilarates. for every one realizes that
mighty though his strength is, huge
Mis- bulk and loud his voice, yet the
merest child need not fear. To slip into
my tent for two rifles and ammunition
and back into the fire smoke to await
events. was the work of moment;
and how anxiously I watched that
wavering smoke as it blew sometimes
straight across the river, then in the
opposite direction, responsive to the
shifting currents! The elephants were
still leisurely feeding toward us, the
bulk keeping in the reeds and the bed
of the stream, but few apparently
moving through the forest on the
other side, still had hopes that as the
bank on our side was above the stream,
fortune might favor us, and the ele-
plants come within sight, so that /
might have the novel experience of
tackling them by moonlight.
We had not long now to wait, for
every moment the crashing of reeds
and branches as the huge animals
passed through became louder, till at
last we could hear the splashing of
the water as they walked down the
stream, some collecting it in their
trunks, throwing it over their bodies,
and blowing through their trunks with
a sharp, rafting sound. AS took up
my position on the bank in the shadow
of tent and trees, with my ten-bore
~, lo Il hi
on to which had slipped the enamel
sight--on my knees, there enters the
first of a vast troop of mighty crea-
lures. With my eyes fixed on the spot
among the moonlit reeds, which
stretched away like silver band be-
tween the, sonber forest, where the
constant crushing and deep rumbling
indicated the advance of the elephants,
marked the waving of the lofty
stems among whose feathered heads
several black. sinuous objects, twist
ing and twining about hike great
snakes, were visible. Then from the
stream bed rose dark mass and stood
on high sandbank, huge figure,
deep black in the shadows, glistening
gray in the high lights, with two small
points of white where the moonlight
shone on the tusks. She was only an
ordinary-sized cow, but in the spectral
light she looked like monster, stand
ing for some moments with trunk up
lifted testing the air. then outstretch-
ing it in front of her she sounded q
low call, heard doubtless by every men,
Der of the troop. and simultaneously
all meved forward.
The scene becomes grand beyond
words. One by one, and in compact
black and gray masses, the huge crea-
lures seem to glide into view, till thc
whole stream-bed is alive with their
massive forms, and their gray shad-
ows pass across the open moonlit
spaces in the otherwise dense forest
on the other bank, while the whole air
is full Of deeply reverberating sounds,
and the cracking of the reeds and
crash of the branches fall sharp and
clear on the ear. Once when the lead
ing elephants were abreast Of the
camp a trumpet, loud and clear, rang
out from among the dark masses a
hundred yards back in the reeds, the
forest caught up the sound and car
ried it to the stony slopes of the Piri,
and thence to the gorge-rifted heights
of the range. which reechoed itin ever
softening cadences. I seemed to live
a lifetime in that brief hour during
which these mighty creatures visited |
our moonlight encampment, and I