The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1905-03-24

me. fired rather wildly, Pm afraid,
and evidently did no damage. The
next instant | was seized by one of the
trunks and whirled high in the air.
Il expected to be dashed in pieces
that instant But no; | had not allow.
ed for the development of self-restraint
and curiosity in two brains, both nat
urally of the first order of animal in.
telligence, and both sharpened by con-
slant association with one another. |
was not hurled to the ground. | was
held aloft by one trunk, while the
other took the revolver from my hand
and brought it up to the corresponding
| pair of eyes for examination. Then /
was set quietly down, and huge foot
was placed upon me, quite gently,
while the revolver was passed from
trunk to trunk and closely scrutinized,
both the heads keeping up meanwhile
q series of significant grunts which
| have no doubt at all personally were
Of the nature of language. The one
trunk-the left one, / rememper-took
the weapon, adjusted it clumsily be-
tween the thumb and hand, as / may
| call them, and discharged it. The great
beast started convulsively, but did not
| drop the revolver; and then the other
trunk eagerly stretched out to take it,
and managed to fire it off in it's turn
This took some time to happen. |
dare say each trunk was fiddling with
the revolver for ten minutes before it
managed to fire it. All that time |
lay on my back, with a huge foot
| planted on my abdomen, watching
| what occurred. | did not feel frighten-
| ed; but | was very uncomfortable. My
captor continued to play with the re-
volyer. 1t was like child with a new
toy. Two more shots were discharged;
and then began strange scene.
"A furious alteration broke out be-
tween the two heads, evidently with
regard to the last shot left in the SIX
shooter-you remember | fired one
myself. The right trunk had the wea-
pom; and the left strove to tear it
away Deafening blasts of trumpeting
filled the air. Tusks clashed violent
ly as the maddened creature struggled
with itself. I was forgotten. The i'm
prisoning foot was lifted, and as |
rolled behind a rock the earth shook
to the trampling of the six great feet.
The end was not long in coming
After few minutes of struggling, in
the course of which some fearful
wounds were inflicted by each pair of
tusks | saw the writhing trunks
tWined together fly upward and back
ward. At the same instant a shot rang
out, and next moment, with two ire
mendous bellows, the frightful creature
toppled forward to it's four knees, and
Immediately rolled over on it's left
side.
1T was perfectly dead. My revolver,
still smoking was clutched convulsive-
ly in the right trunk. 1t had gone off
in the struggle, so close to the beasts
back as to SINCE the skin, and had shat
tered the spinal cord just behind the
junction of the twin vertebral pro-
cesses.
There is no more to tell. returned
to camp, and the next day resumed my
march. | presented the corpse to the
Rajah and I daresay he has the hide
and skeleton now"
The Major ceased speaking There
was a respectful pause. They Mr.. Har-
kins said: Major, what regiment did
you belong to-"
1.-THE Forty-third Light Infantry"
said the Major.
'In our own Civil War;" said Mr..
Harkins, II served in the Twenty-sev-
enth New York Regiment. We were
known as the Truthful Twenty-seventh,
or General Washington's Own. If ever
you're in the States, Major, at the time
of one of our regimental reunions yCsu
must let me introduce you to some of
the boys They'd be surely gratifed
to know you"-E Clerihew, in Lonodn
Daily News.
Nothing Unusual About That.
whats the meaning of this word
'trite'?" asked Archie.
II can tell you better by illustrating
it, said Reggie. Suppose you hear a
conversation of this kind:
"'How do you do, Miss Flyppe?
Beastly weather for the time of year,
isn't it?'
Its perfectly horrid.'
at don't think | ever saw worse
weather. Did you?
I never did. Never in my life
looming around the corner l
Thought the wind would blow my hat
off. Beastly wind, isn't it?'
"Tt's just horrid.'
1t looks like rain, too
1.-The weather man says it's going
to rain, doesn't hep
81 think he does. l hate rain;
don't you, Miss Flyppe%
81 detest it. It's horrid.'
"Now do you get the idea?'' said