The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-09-18

then very slowly, and with great dig
| nifty, he knelt down.
| At this point swooned away.
When I came to myself again l saw
from the moon that I must have been
! insensible for quite two hours.
| I was drenched with dow, and shiv-
ering all over.
! At first I could not think where I
was, when, on lifting my head. l saw
! the outline of the -tusked bull still
kneeling some f1ve-and-twenty PAGES
from me.
Then I remembered.
Slowly I raised myself, and was in
| stantly taken with a violent sickness.
| the result of overexertion, after which
| nearly tainted second time.
Presently 1 grew better, and consid-
| cred the position.
Two of the elephants were. as l
| knew, dead; but how about number
| three?
There he knelt in majesty in the
lonely moonlight.
The question was. was he resting, or
dead?
got on my hands and knees, loaded
my rife, and painfully crept a few
PAGES nearer.
I could see his eye now. for the moon
light fell full upon it; it was open, and
rather prominent.
! crouched and waited; the eyelid
did not move, nor did the great brown
body, or the trunk. or the ear, or the
tail-nothing moved.
Then knew that he must be dead.
I crept up to him-still keeping the
rifle we'll forward-and gave him a
thump, rejecting as did so how very
near I had been to being '"thumpee
instead Of thumper."
He never stirred; he certainly was
dead, though to this day do not know
if it was my random shot that killed
him, or if he died from concussion of
the brain consequent upon the tre-
mendous shock of his contact with the
tree.
Anyhow, there he was.
Cold and beautiful he lay, or rather
knelt, as the poet neatly puts it.
Indeed, I do not think that 1 have
way than that mighty beast crouched
in majestic death and shone upon by
the lonely moon.
While 1 stood admiring the whole
scene, and heartily congratulating my
self upon my escape, 1 once more be.
gan to feel sick.
Accordingly, without waiting to ex-
anime the other two bulls, 1 staggered
off back to the camp. which in due
course 1 reached in safety.
Everybody in it was asleep.
1 did not wake them. I threw off
my coat and shoes, rolled myself UP in
blanket, and was soon fast asleep.
When 1 woke it was already light,
and at first thought that, like Joseph,
I had dreamed a dream.
At that moment, however, I turned
my head, and quickly knew that it was
no dream, for my neck and face were
so stiff from the blow of the butt end
of the rifle that it was agony to move
them.
| I collapsed for a minute or two.
Gobo and another man, wrapped up
like couple of monks in their blank
| cts, thinking that I was still asleep,
were crouching over little fire they
had made-for the morning was damp
and chilly-and holding sweet con-
verse.
Gobo said that he was getting tired
of running after elephants which they
never caught.
Macumazahn (that is myself was
some skill in shooting, but also he was
fool.
None but a fool would run so fast
and far after elephants which it was
! impossible to catch when they kept
cutting the spoor of fresh ones.
He certainly was a fool, but he must
not be allowed to continue in his folly,
and he, Gobo, was determined to put a
stop to 1t.
He should refuse to accompany him
any farther on so mad hunt.
Yes, the other answered, the poor
man certainly was sick in his head, and
1t was quite time that they checked his
folly while they still had patch OF
skin left upon their feet.
Moreover. he, for his part, certainly
did not like this country of Wambe's.
which really was full Of ghosts.
Only the last night be had heard the
spooks at work; they were out shoot
| - l., 80 dnd thny
were.
It was very queer, but perhaps their
| lunatic of master
"Gobo. you scoundrel" shouted out
at this juncture, sitting bolt upright
on the blanket, "stop idling there, and
make me some coffee"
Up sprang Gobo and his friend. and
+! in half a moment were respectfully
| skipping about in manner that con
trasted we'll with the lordly contempt
| of their previous conversation.
But all the same they were in ear
! nest in what they said about hunting
J the elephants any further. for before
had finished my coffee they came to
!
10 follow those elephants l must follow
them myself, for they would not go.
| argued with them, and affected to
be much put out.
The elephants were close at hand. l
said; 1 was sure of it. l had heard
them trumpet in the night.
Yes. answered the men, mysteriously
they too had heard things in the night
! things not nice to hear; they had
heard the spooks out shooting, and no
longer would they remain in a coun'
try so viicly haunted.
1t was nonsense, replied.
If ghosts went out shooting, surely
they would use air-guns and no black
| powder, and one would not hear an
air-gun.
Well, if they were towards and
would not come, of course l could
| NOT force them to. but | would make