The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-04-25
CAPTAINS OF
ADVENTURE
By
BY ROGER POCOCK

tree whose trunk was two feet thick,
and fearing he might move on, Grogan
fired. The elephant fell, but recovered
and dashed away, so that there were
some hours Of tracking before the
hunter could catch up again. And
now on flaw of wind the giant scent
ed him.
THE noise was terrific, and 1t sud-
denly dawned upon me that so far
from moving off he was coming on.
was powerless to move-a fall would
have been fatal-so 1 waited; but the
forest was so dense that l never saw
him till his head was literally above
me. when / fred both barrels of the
800 magnum In his face. The whole
forest seemed to crumple up, and a
second later / found myself ten feet
above the ground, well home in thorn
bush, while my gun was lying ten
yards away in the opposite direction /:
and heard a roar as of thunder dis
| appearing into the distance. A few
seconds later the most daring of my
boys, Zowanji, came hurrying along
with that sickly green hue that a mig
gers face assumes in moments of
fear, and with his assistance descend
ed from my spiky perch. / was
drenched with blood, which fortunate
ly proved to be not mine, but that of
the elephant; my gun, which l recov-
cred, was also covered with blood, even
to the inside of the barrels. The
| 10, 7 cl;.
ly twisted knee. / cannot say whether
the elephant actually struck me, or
whether l was carried there by the
rush of the country"
Following up, Grogan found enor-
nous pools of blood, and half mile
farther on heard grunts that showed
that the elephant had scented him.
The animal rushed about with terri
flying shrieks, devastated half an acre
of forest, and then moved on again.
Several times the hunter caught up,
but the elephant moved on at an in
creasing pace, until sunset put an end
to Grogan's hopes.
This part of the Rift has belts of
forest, and close beside them are
patches of rich populous country
where black nations live in fat con-
tentment. But for five years there
had been trouble to the westward
where the Congo army had chased out
the Belgian officials and run the coun-
try to suit themselves. Still worse,
there were certain cannibal tribes
moving like swarm of locusts through
/ Central Africa, eating the settled ma
tons Lately the swarm had broken
into the Rift, and as Grogan explored
northward he found the forest full of
corpses. Here and there lurked starv-
ing fugitiveS, but despite their fran
tic warning he moved on until he came
to a wide province of desolated farms
and ruined villages. Seeing that he
had but a dozen followers mob
they rushed, six fell to the white mans
rifle, and when the rest fed he picked
them off at the range of a mile, as
long as he could find victims Then
he entered house where they had
been feasting. "a cloud of yultures
inkling of what / was about TO see
but the realization defies description
it haunts me in my dreams, at dinner
it sits on my leg-of-mutton, it bubbles
In my soup, in fine, Watonga (the ne
gro gun bearer) would not eat the
potatoes that grew in the same coun-
try"
Grogan fed, and starved. for the
mountain streams were choked with
corpses, the woods were a nightmare
horror, to eat and sleep were alike inn
possible. He warned his partner and
the expedition marched by another
route.
Two very queer kinds of folk he
met in the forests: the pygmies and
the ape-men. The pygmies are little
hunters and not more than three feet
tall, but sturdy and compact, immense
ly strong, able to travel through the
pig-runs of the jungle, and brave
enough TO kill elephants with their
tiny poisoned arrows. He found them
kindly, clever little folk, though all
the other explorers had disliked them
The ape-men were tall, with hang
ing paunch and short legs a small
skull and huge jaws, face, body and
legs covered with wiry hair. The hang
of the long powerful arms, the slight
stoop of the trunk, and the hunted va
cant expression of the face were
marked. The twenty or thirty of them
Grogan met were frightened at first
but afterward became very friendly
proud to show him their skill in max.
ing fire with their fire sticks.
Once in the forest he found the
skeleton of an ape Of gigantic size
The natives explained that such apes
were plentiful, although no white man
has ever seen one. They have a bad
habit of stealing negro women.
At the northern end of the Rift,
where the country fattens out toward
the Nile. Grogan and Sharp met with
the officials of British Uganda, which
was then In shocking muddle Of mu-
tinous black troops, raids from the
Congo, drought and famine There Mr..
Sharp left the expedition, making his
way to Mombasa the carriers were
sent back home as good radiance,
and Mr.. Grogsn, with only five faith
ful attendants pushed on down the
Nile valley The river was blocked
with a weed called the sudd, which