A quiet whisper to Wortley to take a cool shot at the left-hand elephant, in the exact centre of the forehead, and down went the two leaders! Wortley's and mine; quickly we ran into the herd, before they knew what had happened, and down went another to V Baker's shot.The smoke hung in such thick volumes that we could hardly see two yards before us, when straight into the cloud of smoke an elephant rushed towards us.V.Baker fired, but missed; and my left-hand barrel extinguished him.Running through the smoke with a spare rifle I killed the last elephant.They were all bagged--five elephants within thirty seconds from the first shot fired.Wortley had commenced well, having killed his first elephant with one shot.
We found breakfast ready on our return to the horses, and having disturbed this part of the country by the heavy volley at the herd, we returned to Minneria.
I was convinced that we could expect no sport in this neighbourhood; we therefore held a consultation as to our line of country.
Some years ago I had entered the north of the Veddah country from this point, and I now proposed that we should start upon a trip of discovery, and endeavour to penetrate from the north to the south of the Veddah country into the 'Park.' No person had ever shot over this route, and the wildness of the idea only increased the pleasure of the trip.We had not the least idea of the distance, but we knew the direction by a pocket compass.
There was but one objection to the plan, and this hinged upon the shortness of V.Baker's leave.He had only ten days unexpired, and it seemed rash, with so short a term, to plunge into an unknown country;however, he was determined to push on, as he trusted in the powers of an extraordinary pony that would do any distance on a push.This determination, however destroyed a portion of the trip, as we were obliged to pass quickly through a lovely sporting country, to arrive at a civilised, or rather an acknowledged, line of road by which he could return to Kandy.Had we, on the contrary, travelled easily through this country, we should have killed an extraordinary amount of game.
We agreed that our route should be this.We were to enter the Veddah country at the north and strike down to the south.I knew a bridle-path from Badulla to Batticaloa, which cut through the Veddah country from west to east; therefore we should meet it at right angles.From this point V.Baker was to bid adieu, and turn to the west and reach Badulla;from thence to Newera Ellia and to his regiment in Kandy.We were to continue our direction southward, which I knew would eventually bring us to the 'Park.'
Nov.22.--We moved our encampment, accompanied by the headman and his followers; and after a ride of fourteen miles we arrived at the country of Hengiriwatdowane, a park-like spot of about twelve square miles, at which place we were led to expect great sport.The appearance of the ground was all that we could wish; numerous patches of jungle and single trees were dotted upon the surface of fine turf.
In the afternoon, after a cooling shower, we all separated, and started with our respective gun-bearers in different directions, with the understanding that no one was to fire a shot at any game but elephants.
We were to meet in the evening and describe the different parts of the country, so that we should know how to proceed on the following day.
I came upon herds of deer in several places, but I of course did not fire, although they were within a certain shot.I saw no elephants.
Everyone saw plenty of deer, but V.Baker was the one lucky individual in meeting with elephants.He came upon a fine herd, but they winded him and escaped.There was evidently plenty of game, but V.B.having fired at the elephants, we knew that this part of the country was disturbed;we therefore had no hesitation in discharging all the guns and having them well cleaned for the next morning, when we proposed to move the tent a couple of miles farther off.
NOV.23.--A most unfortunate day, proving the disadvantage of being ignorant of the ground.Although I knew the whole country by one route, from Minneria to the north of the Veddah country, we had now diverged from that route to visit this particular spot, which I had never before shot over.We passed on through beautiful open country interspersed with clumps of jungle, but without one large tree that would shade the tent.
A single-roofed tent exposed to the sun is perfectly unbearable, and we continued to push on in the hope of finding a tree of sufficient size to afford shelter.
Some miles were passed; fresh tracks of elephants and all kinds of game were very numerous, and the country was perfection for shooting.
At length the open plains became more contracted, and the patches of jungle larger and more frequent.By degrees the open ground ceased altogether, and we found ourselves in a narrow path of deep mud passing through impenetrable thorny jungle.Nevertheless our guide insisted upon pushing on to a place which he compared to that which we had unfortunately left behind us.Instead of going two miles, as we had originally intended, we had already ridden sixteen at the least, and still the headman persisted in pushing on.No coolies were up; the tents and baggage were far behind; we had nothing to eat; we had left the fine open country, which was full of game, miles behind us, and we were in a close jungle country, where a rifle was not worth a bodkin.It was too annoying.I voted for turning back to the lovely hunting-ground that we had deserted; but after a long consultation, we came to the conclusion that every day was of such importance to V.Baker that we could not afford to retrace a single step.
Thus all this beautiful country, abounding with every kind of game, was actually passed over without firing a single shot.
I killed a few couple of snipe in a neighbouring swamp to pass the time until the coolies arrived with the baggage; they were not up until four o'clock P.M., therefore the whole day was wasted, and we were obliged to sleep here.
