River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-06-17


aside as he passed. My hat and coat,
which were a few yards behind, at
tracted his attention With a snort
of satisfaction he crushed them down.
l gave him all my Mauser shots in
the rear. With extraordinary sudden
ness he turned. He sighted me and
charged, his tusks level with his body
My magazine was empty. threw my
rife down and ran, the elephant gain
ing on me at each step. / saw Nick
ahead of me with leveled rifle.
To keep running meant that l
would soon be overtaken. Instructive
ly 1 threw myself on the ground and
Nick fired. With a thud that made
the earth tremble the elephant
dropped. The huge trunk twisted like
wounded snake for moment, and
then the gigantic body relaxed in
death. 1t all took about two minutes
to happen and was pretty close
shave, but it was worth the trouble,
for the tusks we got were big, weigh
ing close to hundred pounds.
The Killing of Nick, Hunter Boy.
A few months after this occurrence,
on the same trip, I lost Nick, my
Senegal boy" under terrible circum-
stances. This brave man who had
hunted everything in Africa from the
Cape to Cairo, and from Zanzibar to
Banana, boosted many a time that he
would never be killed by anything but
al P1It hn to-
association with danger had made
him careless, and this cost him his
life
We were treking south toward Lake
Tanganyika along a native path run
ming parallel with the Rusizi river 1t
was frightfully hot, so hot that the
gun barrels burned our hands. The
porters staggered under their heavy
loads in long string, mumbling
songs, each in his native tongue, to
keep up his tagged spirits, and the
sun rays danced in misty vibrations
from the parched earth. Suddenly the
jungle ceased and we broke into the
open weld. Four hundred yards away,
coming in the opposite direction, was
a herd of at least twenty elephants.
They had evidently made long jour-
ney and were suffering from the in
tense heat. Some of them were occu-
pied in thrusting their trunks into
their mouths and drawing water from
| their stomachs. With this water they
were sprinkling their sunburned
backs This is habit that elephants
always practice when they are over
heated and cannot find the shade of
friendly forest.
To me the sight of the approaching
| herd was welcome. / saw ivory which
meant thousands of dollars to us if
we could get in a few good shots. /
ordered my caravan back into the un-
dergrowth. and, bringing up the shik-
arees, prepared for the slaughter.
loaded my nine millimeter Mauser
with solid bullets for long shots. At
| 800 yards I opened fire and the leader.
fine bull, dropped in his tracks. The
| crack of my rifle threw the herd into
| CONSERVATION. They were not sure
| where the noise came from, and they
as yet had not caught sight of us.
| After little indecision they kept on
| the old route and marched toward us.
A hundred yards nearer and gave
the nearest, another bull, my second
shot. 1t went wild. He shrieked and
threw his trembling head back and
forth frantic with pain. I had evil
| IDENTIFY given him a bad face wound. /
| fired again and must have missed. He
saw me, and, trumpeting loudly,
charged down on us, followed by the
whole herd. I emptied my magazine
| into them with no effect. Nearer they
came, their ivory cleaning in the sun
and the dust curling up in clouds be-
hind them. The ground vibrated like
beaten drum top under their thun-
derous charge.
I saw tusk-crested wave of NAM
moths sweeping down to destroy us.
| 1t was no time for inaction. The gun
bearer handed me the 600 caliber ex-
press At hundred yards I gave the
leader one barrel after the other. He
fell, and those behind tumbled over
| him in a heap. For moment the
mad charge was broken. l thought
we were out of danger, bat another
leader forged ahead and bore down
on us. RUM" shrieked, and every
man made for safety, excepting Nick,
the coolest in the face Of danger and
always the last to run. I threw my
self behind tree, just escaping be-
ing crushed to death. A screech rose
above the thunder of the hoofs and
the next instant I saw Nick hoisted
into the air with blood-stained tusk
through his body. The Infatuated
mass swept past, leaving a red
marked trail. I Immediately set out
on the spoor of the herd in hope OF
getting the body Of the shikaree. AL
though I searched till shutdown was
unsuccessful.
That night heard the lions roar
| ing down toward the river. The next
morning, with few natives, | con-
| tinued the search, in the direction
that the lions roars came from dur
ing the night. We soon sighted
| flock of vultures, sure sign OF dead
game and, coming up with them, we
found the chewed carcass of an ele-
phant and the scattered bones Of a
human being, among which l found
Nick's hunting knife and belt. The
wounded elephant had carried him on
his tusk till it fell exhausted through
loss of blood, and died. 1t was one OF