07 Elephant Adventure (8 page)

Then he suddenly whirled about, trumpeted loudly, charged through the line of men and came to a halt beside Roger.

‘There you are,’ Hal said. ‘Now he’s really adopted you.’

‘Come Quick. We catch big one.’

It was Chief Abu speaking. Hal shook his head. He had almost given up hope. Everything had gone wrong. Yesterday the elephant had escaped, taking most of the chain with him. Today - he looked at the mournful pile of bones - they had been unable to take their quarry alive. He could almost agree with Roger - the Mountains of the Moon had them jinxed.

Without much enthusiasm, he followed Abu into the woods. They pushed past ferns thirty feet high with leaves ten to twelve feet long. Heather, lobelias, begonias, pansies, towered around them. Above them rose gigantic trees, and beautiful black-and-white colobus monkeys looked down from the high branches. Far away there was a sound like a sonic boom - it came from the great drum-like chest of a big gorilla.

They came out of the brush on to a narrow path.

‘Elephant trail/ Abu said. ‘Every day many elephants come here. We catch one - no?’

Hal felt like repeating the ‘No.’ But he only nodded gloomily.

A number of pygmies were hard at work. Some of Hal’s men were helping them. They had dug a hole a foot deep in the path. It was a little larger than the forefoot of an elephant Now they were laying a loop of rope around

the edge of the hole. The other end of the rope was tied round a big log.

Hal had never seen a rope like this one. It was as heavy as the hawser of an ocean liner, perhaps heavier. It was a good five inches in diameter. Where did the pygmies ever get such a rope? He asked Abu.

‘It is made of many hides,’ Abu said. The hides of giraffes, antelopes, hartebeest, rhino, eland, zebra, and buffalo. Our women make it. They scrape the skins and pound them with clubs. They pound them for many weeks. Then they twist them together to make this rope.’

‘But is it as good as a chain?’

‘It is better. It will stretch - a chain will not The elephant - he comes. He steps in the hole. When he takes up his foot, the loop is around his ankle. It makes tight. He tries to go on, but the rope is tied to this log. He pulls hard. The rope stretches like what-you-call elastic. It does not break like chain. When he stops pulling to rest, it goes back.’

‘Then what happens?’

‘He pulls again - harder. So hard, he drags the log behind him.’

‘Why don’t you tie the rope to a big tree instead of a log? He couldn’t drag that away.’

‘Then he would break the rope - like chain. But the log, it moves, so the strain on the rope is not too great You see? We never forget - elephant is king. He is strongest animal in whole world. You do not say no to king, or elephant You say a little no, a little yes. If you do not let him win a little, he win too much. So the elephant wins a little - he goes on along path. He pulls the log. But it is very hard work. He get very tired. He stop. We catch him.’

‘I’ll believe it when I see it,’ Hal said.

Light sticks were laid across the hole and the loop of tope. Then the trap was entirely covered with leaves. Hal noticed how carefully this job was done. The pygmies did not touch the leaves with their hands or bare feet, but used sticks to rake them into place. Thus they would bury the smell of man.

When the work was done they did not walk back along the path but plunged into the jungle and went round about, coming out finally near the herd and Roger with his big baby.

Now all the men, directed by Abu, went behind the herd and began an unholy racket, shouting, screaming, banging broken branches against tree trunks, throwing stones, making noise in every possible way.

Some of the elephants screamed back and charged. They came up against a wall of spearpoints that pricked them in all tender parts, including the sensitive trunk. The hundred prancing, shrieking devils were too much for diem. They turned and followed the rest of the herd towards the forest. Soon they were treading along the elephant trail, in single file.

Again Abu led Hal round about to the point in the trail where the trap lay concealed. They stopped behind some thick bushes where they could see and not be seen.

Hal still doubted that the plan would work. He doubted even more when he saw the first animal in the line. It was a scruffy beast with a ragged hide, and he was sure no zoo would want it But it was the one that was going to be caught in the trap.

The elephant came on with long, lazy strides. It seemed sleepy, or was it just stupid? Evidently it had no suspicion of what lay ahead. It still sensed no danger as it came near the edge of the trap.

One more step, and it would be caught. That would frighten away the other elephants. They would leave the trail and stampede through the forest, and Hal knew that a frightened herd will sometimes cover as much as fifty miles in a day. Hal would be left with an animal he couldn’t use - he would have to release it and start all over again.

Then he woke up to the fact that the beast he didn’t want had stepped over the trap without knowing it was there and was sleepily ambling on down the trail.

Now Hal had a new worry. Elephants take long steps -suppose they all passed over without putting a foot in the hole?

The next elephant was big and beautiful. It would do nicely. Any zoo would be happy to have it. Hal measured its stride with his eye. If it kept the same pace the right forefoot should go into the hole.

The elephant stopped. A leafy branch had caught its eye. It stepped off the trail, extended its trunk, tore off the .branch and passed the dainty morsel into its mouth to be ground up by the great molars. Then it pushed through the underbrush and came out on the trail again beyond the trap.

The third knew something was wrong. It paused and lowered its trunk and sniffed about over the leaves covering the trap. Then it cautiously stepped around the spot and continued down the trail with a contemptuous squeal that seemed to say: ‘You’ll have to be smarter than that to catch me.’ The fourth arrival was the sort of beast an animal collector dreams about. It was a gigantic male standing two-men high, with gleaming tusks that stretched out before him like cargo booms.

Hal refused to get excited. He was used to bad luck. He wasn’t surprised when one forefoot passed safely over the trap. Another foot, safe - and another. Just one more chance.

The rear right foot went squarely into the hole. When it came out, the loop tightened around the ankle. The big tusker gave out a thunderous sort of grumble and broke into a fast shuffle.

The rope snapped taut and would certainly have broken if the end had been fastened to an immovable tree. But the log moved just enough so that the strain on the rope was not too great.

Away went the surprised giant dragging the log behind him.

He did not make rapid progress. The log was very heavy. It was two feet thick and as long as the elephant, and it caught on every rock and was snagged by the bushes. Then great exertion was needed to pull it loose and drag it another two or three feet until it became snagged again.

But the shrubs in which it was repeatedly snarled acted like steel springs, always yielding a little to the pull so that the jungle-made rope was not snapped.

The big elephant shook the forest with a high-sounding scream like the shriek of a jet plane. His friends raised their voices to the same high pitch and went bulldozing through the thickets, hunting for the men who had done this thing - but the men had climbed to safety in the trees.

One pygmy who had only climbed as high as a house was snared by an angry trunk, thrown on the ground, and badly trampled. The animal then made off, assuming his victim to be dead. In such a moment of terror you could not expect even a kind-hearted elephant to give you a decent burial

Fearing they would be caught in the same way, the other men scrambled higher. Hal was amazed at the upward reach of these animals. His one-storey home, he remembered, measured fifteen feet from ground to gable. But now he must climb at least twenty-five feet above ground to be out of reach of the snaky trunks. Then the whole herd took fright and went plunging away through the brush.

The men came down and for the next hour watched the great elephant heaving and straining to escape from the bush-bound log. Finally the animal surrendered in complete exhaustion. He stood soundless, his head hanging in defeat.

‘Now what?’ Hal asked Abu.

It was a long way to the village. There he had trucks with elephant cages. But how could they be brought here, since there was no road?

‘We will take him to the village,’ Abu said as calmly as if this were a trapped rabbit instead of a ten-ton elephant.

He called to his men. They swarmed down from the trees and gathered round the weary elephant.

The fight was not quite gone out of him. He sucked up a lot of small stones, turned his trunk in towards his mouth and then uncurled it with great force and blew the stones at his enemies. He scored several hits. Then he gave up this style of attack, for there were no more stones. And besides he was very, very tired and didn’t care much what happened to him now.

The log caught in the bushes was lifted free. The men swarmed behind the elephant and along one flank and by the pricking of their spears persuaded him to turn towards the village. Then they prodded him forward, meanwhile keeping the log clear of snags.

‘Why not let him loose from the log altogether?’ Hal inquired.

Abu shook his head. ‘He’s still much strong inside,’ he said. ‘No log, he much danger.’

Hal sent Joro back to bring Roger and his baby. The small elephant followed Roger willingly and in a few minutes the boy and the beast had joined the party on its slow trek towards camp.

Hal sent some of his men on ahead to make ready the cage. So when the prize animal finally came out into the clearing he was greeted by the entire village, who watched his last unwilling march up an earthen ramp to the floor of the truck on which rested the enormous crate.

He was even glad to go inside to escape his tormentors. The door was dropped behind him. The rope running out under the door was left attached to the log just as an extra precaution in case the animal broke open the crate and tried to escape.

Hal looked in between the bars. Inside that cage was a good twelve thousand dollars’ worth of elephant.

Hal’s father would be pleased. The animal-collecting outfit of Hunt, Hunt, and Hunt had made good - thanks to the help of the smallest hunters on earth. The jinx of the Mountains of the Moon had been broken.

Hal looked up. He strained his eyes, hoping to get a glimpse of the elephants of the sky. But the snow-packed mountain peaks were entirely buried in fog. He would have liked to see if they were all there. Or had one of

them, one of the biggest, come down to earth, and was it now a prisoner in this cage?

It was only a crazy fancy. But one was bound to have crazy fancies in this fantastic world of over-sized beasts, three-foot earthworms, giant flowers, giant men, and pygmies with giant courage.

He looked round to find Mumbo, towering chief of the Watussi, standing beside him. He felt like saying:

‘You see you were wrong. You said we couldn’t take an elephant alive. The evil spirits of the Mountains of the Moon, you said, would not permit it. Well, there’s your elephant, and he’s very much alive. That ought to put a kink in your favourite superstition.’

He thought of saying all this but he didn’t say it. He said:

‘Nice beast, isn’t he?’

‘Very good,’ agreed Mumbo.

‘He will be a great attraction in some zoo.’

Mumbo smiled gravely. ‘I am sorry, my friend. He will never reach a zoo.’

Hal could hardly conceal his annoyance.

‘I suppose you think he’ll vanish into thin air.’

‘You say it well,’ Mumbo agreed. ‘Vanish into thin air.’ He turned his gaze upwards to the fog that concealed the mountain-tops. ‘From there he came, and there he will return. I am sad to have to tell you this, my son, for I know your hopes are high. But it is better that you know.’

‘Thank you,’ Hal said. But he thought. Stubborn old fool. But I can’t blame him. I’d get loony too if I had to live long in these crazy mountains.

closed behind him. He lay in the grass trying to get his breath back.

Then he sat up to see a very strange sight. His tent had come to life.

It leaped and billowed and bulged. It tore loose its guy ropes and went flouncing about like a fat woman in long skirts. Yelling pygmies jumped out of its way. Women screamed, babies cried.

It was a very noisy tent. It grunted and squealed and trumpeted like an elephant Only Roger knew that it really was an elephant With the flaps closed. Big Boy had not been able to see how to get out of the tent So he had promptly gone wild. He went blundering about like a blind balloon.

Roger sat in the grass laughing. But when he saw the frantic ball of canvas roll over a hut injuring a woman and a child, he realized it was no longer a laughing matter. Something must be done and he must do it for this was his elephant.

Toto came running up with a gun. He levelled it at the galumphing tent.

‘Don’t do that!’ Roger yelled. He called to Joro and the other safari men. ‘Come on!’ he shouted, and ran towards the living tent The others guessed his purpose and joined him.

Together they laid hold of the flapping canvas on all sides, and it seemed for a minute that they had Big Boy pinned down. But the frightened animal made a mighty heave and shook off the men as if they had been flies. Big Boy trampled down another hut

Force didn’t work. Roger decided to try something else.

He ran directly in front of the charging tent.

Roger was in trouble. His half-ton baby was almost too much for him.

‘Big boy’ he had named it. Big Boy seemed big to Roger, but evidently felt very small and lost without its mother.

Roger could not move ten feet without being followed at once by the squealing infant. It lumbered after him so fast that it could not stop in time and knocked him down.