King Solomon's Treasure

Chapter 6: Elephant Hunting
At the confluence of the Lukaga and Kalukowe rivers, there is a village called Standa, about 1000 miles from Durban.I don't want to go into detail about what happened along the way.The last three hundred miles or so we had to walk, for the tsetse was everywhere and killed every animal it bit, except donkeys and men.

We left Durban at the end of January, and in the second week of May came near the village of Stada, where we pitched our tents.We passed through many perils along the way, but such perils are not uncommon to an African hunter, so I will mention only one, lest the reader be bored.

In the outlying districts of Matabelle County, there is a trading post called Iyandi, headed by a great villain named Rubengula.We had no choice but to give up our comfortable ox cart.Of the twenty cows bought in Durban, only twelve remain.One of them was killed by a cobra, three died of lack of water, one was lost, three died after eating a poisonous weed called "tulip", and five cows became sick from eating this poisonous weed.Fortunately, we boiled tulip leaves into medicine, poured them down, and cured them.If treated in time, this is a very effective detoxification method.We left the cart and the rest of the herd in the care of Gosar and Tom, both very reliable.In addition, a highly respected Scottish missionary was asked to help look after it.After the arrangements were made, we continued on foot, accompanied by Ambopa, Kiva, Wittrueger, and six porters hired locally.Everyone was silent when we set off, wondering if we would still see our ox cart.Anyway, I feel hopeless.Everyone walked silently, at this time Ambopa who was walking in front broke the silence and sang a Zulu song. .Look, when they came to the wilderness, they found that there was a paradise, with beautiful women like clouds, and herds of cattle and sheep, where they could hunt and kill enemies as much as they wanted.

After listening to this song, everyone laughed and thought it was a good sign.Although Ambopa is rude, he has a cheerful personality, and he speaks and acts with a bit of dignity.Sometimes I fell into deep thought, and sometimes I made everyone laugh and boost morale.Everyone likes him very much.

Now, I'm going to tell you about one of those adventures, because I love hunting stories.

About two weeks after we set out from Iyandi, we traveled through an exceptionally beautiful, rain-rich jungle country.The valleys in the mountains are full of dense shrubs, which the locals call "Aidoro".There are also thorns growing in some places.There are many beautiful machebe trees growing in the crevices of the boulders, and the trees are full of yellow fruits, which are the favorite food of elephants.There are traces of this large animal everywhere.Many branches have been broken, and even whole trees have been uprooted. Elephants are indeed very destructive animals.

One evening, after a long day's trek, we discovered a very beautiful place.This is a mountain covered by bushes. At the foot of the mountain there is a dry riverbed. There are several puddles on the riverbed. The water inside is crystal clear. There are many animal footprints beside the puddles.On the other side of the hill was a plain, with clusters of mimosa and dotted with smooth-leaved matchabe trees, surrounded by bushes and very quiet.It can be seen that there are few people here.

As soon as we walked on the river bed, we startled a group of tall giraffes.They galloped away with a strange gait, their tails held high, and their hoofs rattling like castanets.They were about three hundred miles away from us, and out of range, but Goode, who was walking in front, happened to have a fast gun loaded in his hand, and he couldn't help raising it for a moment, and took aim at the last calf. .By coincidence, the bullet hit the calf right in the back of the neck, shattering the spine.The baby doe somersaulted like a rabbit and fell to the ground.I've never seen such a coincidence.

"Damn it!" Goode had a habit of swearing when he was excited, which was obviously developed when he was in the navy. "Damn it! I hit it!"

"Oh, Bugwan," exclaimed the Xhosa, "oh! oh!"

Because Gude wears glasses, several Xhosa people called him "Bugwan", which means glass eyes.

"Oh, Bougwan!" cried Sir Henry and I, too.From then on, several Xhosa people regarded Goode as a sharpshooter.In fact, his marksmanship is very bad, and this time he just hit by chance.No matter how he misses in the future, we will turn a blind eye and laugh it off.

Several young men cut the best venison to our order.We started building a hut about a hundred miles to the right of the puddle.First cut some thorns, form a fence, level the ground inside, spread a layer of hay as a bed, and light a fire.

The moon was up when the hut was erected, and the venison and marrow were ready.Although the marrow bone was a little hard to chew, it tasted so good that everyone enjoyed it!If I didn't eat Xiangxin the next day, I would think the deer marrow bone is the most delicious in the world.We ate this simple supper, pausing now and then to thank Goode for his precise marksmanship.After dinner, under the bright moonlight, we sat around the campfire to smoke and chat happily. The scene must have been funny and strange.My short gray hair stood straight up, and Sir Henry's long yellow hair.In contrast, I was short, thin, dark, and weighed only nine and a half stone.Sir Henry, on the other hand, was tall, strong, fair-skinned, and weighed a good fifteen stone.But the strangest looking of the three of us was Colonel John Goode.He sat on a leather bag and looked as if he had returned from hunting in a civilized place, still wanting more.The whole body is very clean, neat and well-dressed.He wore a brown tweed hunting suit, a hat, and neat rubber boots.As always, the beard was clean-shaven, the glasses were immaculately polished, and the dentures were carefully cleaned.In this wilderness, he is the most neat and tidy person I have ever seen.He even has a spare collar made of white gutta-percha.

"Look, this thing is very light and easy to carry." Seeing my surprised face, he said to me, showing an innocent expression, "I like to dress like a gentleman anytime and anywhere."

Under the beautiful moonlight, we just sat and chatted like this, watching the Xhosa people not far away excitedly smoking earthen cigarettes with cigarette holders made of eland antelope horns.After finishing their addiction, they wrapped themselves in blankets and fell asleep by the campfire.Only Ambopa sat a little further away (I noticed he kept his distance from the other Xhosa), chin resting on his hand, apparently lost in thought.

Soon, there was a loud noise in the bushes behind us.

"It's a lion," I said.So everyone sat up and listened carefully.Suddenly, about a hundred yards from the puddle, there was the shrill cry of an elephant. "It's an elephant. It's an elephant," said the Xhosa softly.A few minutes later, I saw several huge black figures walking slowly from the puddle to the bushes.Goode sprang to his feet, impatient to shoot, perhaps thinking he could kill an elephant as easily as a giraffe.I grabbed his arm and held him down.

"Don't shoot," I said, "let them go."

"It looks like we've arrived at a hunting paradise. We might as well stay here for a day or two and hunt well before we go," said Sir Henry.

What he said surprised me.Before this, Sir Henry had been urging to hurry.He was even more anxious when he learned that an Englishman named Neville had sold his cart in Iyangdi two years ago and moved on.I think it was his hunter nature that made him say that this time.

After listening to Sir Henry's suggestion, Goode jumped up. He was eager to hunt the elephants.To be honest, I was itchy too.It is really not reconciled to watch these elephants go away like this.

"Well then, guys," I said, "Looks like everyone wants to relax. Sleep now, tomorrow

If you set off early in the morning, you may be able to catch up with the elephants and have fun while they are looking for food. "

Everyone nodded, ready to rest.Goode took off his clothes, shook the soil on them, took off his glasses and dentures, and put them in his trouser pockets.Then fold the clothes neatly and cover them with a tarp to keep them from getting wet from the dew.Sir Henry and I were not so careful. After a few careless fiddles, we got into the blankets and fell asleep without a dream.

Everyone was sleeping soundly, when suddenly there was a fierce fighting sound from the direction of the puddle, followed by a terrible roar.Surely, only a lion can make such a roar.Everyone jumped up and looked in the direction of the puddle.There was chaos, yellow and black wrestling, stumbling towards us.They took up their guns at once, put on their shoes of untanned leather, and rushed out of the shed.At this time, the mass fell to the ground and rolled around. When we walked in front of it, it was motionless.

Now everyone can see clearly.It turned out that lying on the grass was a black horse antelope, the most beautiful antelope in Africa.It was dead, a mighty black-maned lion pierced by its great horns, dead too.Apparently what happened was this: the male black horse antelope went to the waterhole to drink water, and a lion was already waiting there.The roar we heard was made by this lion.When the black horse antelope was drinking water, the lion swooped towards it, but was pierced by the black horse antelope's sharp horns.I've seen this happen once before.The stabbed lion couldn't get away, so he had to desperately bite the antelope's back and neck. The antelope, which was in pain and frightened, went mad, rampaged everywhere, and finally fell to the ground and died.

After carefully examining the two dead beasts, we had the Xhosa drag the bodies into the shed.Then everyone continued to sleep and slept until dawn.

We were up at dawn, ready for a good hunt.After a few bites of breakfast, we set off with three eight-caliber guns, plenty of ammunition, and a jug full of cold tea, accompanied by Ambopa, Kiva, and Wittruegl.The rest of the Xhosa stayed and skinned the lions and the antelope and cut the antelope at our order.

It didn't take much effort for us to spot the elephant tracks.After some inspection, Wittrueger estimated that there were twenty or thirty elephants, most of them adult males.But the herd left last night, and it's nine o'clock in the morning and it's hot.Judging from the broken branches, the leaves all over the ground, and the steaming excrement, we are not far from the elephant herd.

Sure enough, we soon spotted the elephant herd.Wittrugger was right, there were twenty or thirty of them, standing in a depression, just finished breakfast, flapping their ears, the scene was really spectacular.

The elephant herd was about two hundred yards away from us.I grabbed a handful of hay and tossed it into the sky to see which way the wind was blowing.If the elephants smell us, they will run away before we get close enough to shoot.Luckily the wind came from the elephant's side.So we tiptoed on quietly, and thanks to the cover of the bushes we came within about forty distances of the herd.Just in front of the side, stood three tall male elephants, one of which had thick and long tusks.I whispered to the others that the middle elephant was to be given to me, Sir Henry to the left, and Good to the tusk.

"Shoot." I said softly.

boom!boom!boom!Three heavy guns fired.Sir Henry was shot in the heart, and the elephant fell dead.My bullet hit the elephant's knee. I thought it would die, but soon it stood up again and ran past me, so I shot it in the ribs quickly. I can't stand up at all.I quickly reloaded two rounds, ran up to the elephant, and fired another shot in the head, and it finally stopped moving.Just as I shot the elephant for the last time, I heard the elephant that Good dealt with let out an angry and painful roar.I ran up to him and found him in a state of extreme excitement.The elephant was shot and turned and ran straight in the direction of the shot. Goode was caught off guard, and as soon as he got out of the way, the elephant sprinted past him and ran in the direction of our camp.At the same time the frightened elephants fled in all directions.

Should we go after the injured elephant, or the herd?We discussed for a while, and finally decided to go after the elephant herd. As for the pair of beautiful ivory, we had to reluctantly give up.Finding the elephant herd was easy, for as they fled in terror, they trampled down a lot of bushes and formed a clear path.But keeping up with the herd is another matter.We fought hard for more than two hours under the scorching sun, and finally caught up with the elephant herd.Except for one male elephant, the other elephants stood together, raised their noses and sniffed the air, alert to the dangers around them, and looked undecided.The bull elephant was standing alone fifty yards away, apparently on guard, about sixty yards from us.Considering that this is an open area, if you get closer, the sentinel bull elephant may notice it.In this way, the elephant herd will run away again.So we all took aim at the bull elephant, and when I whispered an order, three shots were fired.All three bullets hit, and the bull elephant fell dead.Hearing the gunshots, the elephants ran away in panic again.But unfortunately, more than 100 yards ahead was a canyon, or rather a dry river channel, with very steep banks.This place is very similar to the place where the prince was killed in Zulu.Elephants jumped down the river.We ran to the river and saw that the elephants were struggling crazily, trying to climb to the other bank, just like humans showing their selfish side in a panic, they pushed each other and ran for their lives in chaos, with terrified screams echoing in the air scream.The opportunity has come.We quickly loaded ammunition and killed five elephants in a row.If the elephants hadn't suddenly given up climbing to the opposite bank and turned around and fled along the river, we could have wiped out the entire herd.But we were too tired to catch up with them again, and we didn't want to kill them all, so we stopped hunting.Catching eight elephants in one day is no small feat.

After a short rest, the Xhosa cut two elephant hearts for dinner.After we had a full meal, we walked back contentedly, planning to send someone to cut the ivory the next day.

Shortly after passing the spot where Goode had shot the bull elephant, we encountered a herd of eland, but no one shot because there was enough meat.The Oryx passed us quickly, stopped in the bushes about 100+ yards away, and turned to look at us.Goode, who had never seen an eland up close, couldn't wait to step forward and take a good look at the eland.He handed the gun to Ambopa and led Kieva towards the bush step by step.We sat and waited for them, taking the opportunity to rest.

It was the time when the sun was setting. Sir Henry and I were admiring the beauty of the setting sun. Suddenly, we heard the scream of an elephant. Under the reflection of the setting sun, there was a huge figure. It turned out to be an elephant with its trunk up. and tail, rushing towards us.Immediately afterwards, I saw Goode and Kayiwa galloping towards us, followed by the elephant.Because of the close distance, we dared not shoot for fear of hurting both of them.At this moment, another terrible thing happened: Goode was killed by his exquisite clothes.If, like us, he doesn't wear trousers and gaiters, he wears a flannel shirt and rawhide boots instead, maybe nothing will happen.But his trousers dragged him down, making him unable to run fast at the critical moment of this life-and-death race.About sixty yards from us, his boot slipped on the dry grass and he fell headfirst in front of the elephant.

We gasped involuntarily, and ran towards him desperately, thinking that he would die for sure.After three seconds, everything was over, but the ending was unexpected.Kiwa, a young Zulu boy, saw his owner fall to the ground. He bravely swung his spear and stabbed the elephant in the face, hitting the trunk.

The stung elephant let out a loud cry, rolled up the poor Zulu boy with its trunk, threw him to the ground, stepped on his waist with its big foot, wrapped its trunk around his upper body, Rip him in half.

We were terrified and ran away desperately. We fired several shots, and after a while the elephant fell on the broken body of the Zulu boy.

Goode stood up and hugged the warrior who sacrificed his life to save him.Although I am an old hunter, I still feel a lump in my throat.Ambopa also stood up, staring at the corpses of the elephant and Kieva, and said slowly: "He died, but he died like a man."

(End of this chapter)