CHAPTER IX
THE ESCAPE
Night came; fires dotted with their red flames the entire extent of thecamp; the smoke mounted straight in the tranquil air; I saw around thecamp-kettles the men crouching, their forms showing dark against thelight; then there were dances, songs, and music. They were celebratingthe victory by drinking, shouting and quarrelling; they even acted overagain their hand-to-hand struggles, which grew so furious that bloodflowed.
Then, little by little, silence fell; all was dark; a heavy sleepweighed upon the evening of the battle!
_Then I rose up on my feet_.
There was no moon, only the great stars palpitated in the sky. Ilistened; I peered into the obscurity. The tents formed little darkhillocks, undulating away, as far as the eye could reach. No sound,but the intermittent call of distant sentinels, who could not be seen.Before the tent where my Master was imprisoned two soldiers in whitetunics marched slowly with guns on their shoulders. I could see clearlytheir long white robes, and their muslin turbans. Sometimes the barrelof their gun sparkled, reflecting the ray of a star.
Kill these two men? Deliver my Master? and escape with him? Would sucha thing be possible?...
The sentinels marched slowly around the prisoner's tent, walking inopposite directions from each other, so that all sides of the tent wereconstantly under observation.
How to seize them without their being able to give the alarm?...Standing motionless in the darkness, I followed them with my eyes,striving to understand their movements, and the different positionsthey occupied while coming and going.
I observed that one soldier in crossing his companion turned his backto me, and then disappeared behind the tent, and at the same instantthe other soldier also had his back to me, while making the circuit. Ashort moment only elapsed before the first one would reappear and befacing me.
I could not strike the two guards at one time; and if one saw me attackthe other he would have time to give the alarm, and awaken the wholecamp.
It was, then, during this one brief moment that I must act.
About twenty paces separated me from the tent, and this was an addeddifficulty--shortening still more the available time during which Iwould be unseen; but the attempt must be made.
I tried to undo the rope that tethered my foot. I could not succeed;but with a single jerk I pulled up the stake to which I was attached.
I was free.
Choosing a favourable moment I took some steps towards the tent. Then Iwaited for the soldiers to make another turn--and moved still nearer.I preserved the attitude of a sleeping elephant; and they failed tonotice in the darkness that I had drawn closer.
Now was the time. I must make the attempt--at the next turn, thought I.
But my heart beat so violently that I was compelled to wait. My onefear was that I might not succeed; then, too, I felt a repugnance toslaying--by treachery as it seemed--these two unknown human beings. Butafter all, was it not men who had set me the example of ferocity? Tosave my Master I would have destroyed without remorse the entire armyof the enemy!
My self-possession returned; and it was with the greatest coolness thatI executed my plan.
The first soldier was seized by my trunk and strangled, with no soundexcept the cracking of his bones. I had just thrown aside his corpsewhen the other came face to face with me.
He did not cry out--terror prevented him; but he instinctively jumpedbackward, and so hastily that he fell.... The unfortunate man neverrose; my enormous foot falling upon him crushed him to a bloody mass.
I drew a long breath; then I listened; in the distance could still beheard the occasional call of the sentinels who guarded the outskirts ofthe camp, of which we occupied the centre; no doubt they would soon berelieved--and perhaps also the guards of the Prince; there was not amoment to spare.
Yet I dared not approach my Master suddenly, lest he might utter anexclamation of surprise.
Was he sleeping, the dear Prince, worn out with fatigue? Or was hegrieving silently over the loss of his liberty, and his life?
I was at a loss what to do; and the anguish of knowing that the momentswere slipping by made my skin creep!
All at once an idea came to me. I pulled up on one side the stakes thatheld the tent, and taking the canvas by the lower edge, I turned ithalf-way over, just as a strong wind might have done. There remainednothing between us, and I saw the Prince seated on the ground, hiselbow on his knee, his head resting on his hand. He raised his headquickly, and saw my giant form outlined against the starry sky.
"Iravata! my friend, my companion in misfortune!" murmured he.
Tears came to my eyes; but there was no time for anything of that kind!I touched the chains of my Master, feeling them to judge of theirweight. They were nothing for me. With one blow they were broken--firstthose on the feet, and finally the heavier one, which, attached to abelt of iron, chained the Prince to a gallows.
"What are you doing? How is it that you are free?" said Alemguir, who,by degrees, was recovering from his prostration.
All at once he understood; he sprang to his feet.
"Why! you are liberating me!--You are going to save me!"
I made a sign that it was so, but that we must be quick. Calm andresolute now, he cast off the remnants of his shackles. I showed himthe tether on my foot, and the stake that dragged after it. He stoopeddown and unfastened the cord; then I helped him to mount up on myneck.... Oh! what joy to feel him there again! But we were far frombeing out of danger.
He spoke no more. He concentrated all his attention upon directing ourflight through the darkness.
Coming out of the obscurity of the tent, he could see all the better,and from on high he could look about him, listen to the voices of thesentinels, and ascertain something of the arrangement of the camp, andof its extent, and its nearest limits.
He bent forward, darting his looks in every direction; but it wasimpossible to pierce the darkness for more than a hundred feet inadvance.
Avenues had been formed between the tents, which had been placed infairly even lines; but these pathways would naturally be guarded, andthe Prince judged it would be safer to glide behind the tents in theirconfused and indistinct shadows.
Notwithstanding our appearance of heaviness, and our massivecorpulence, we have the faculty of walking as noiselessly as a cat ora panther. A whole herd of elephants on the march, if they suspectany danger, can avoid snapping a twig, or rustling a leaf. The mostacute hearing will fail to detect the sound of their footsteps; andwhoever sees them filing past by hundreds would take them for phantoms.It would be quite proper to say "as _light_ as an _elephant_"--but Iimagine the idea never occurred to any one.
This peculiarity explains how I was enabled to circulate between thesethousands of tents, scarcely seeing my way, and obliged very oftento pass through an opening barely larger than my own person, withoutrunning against, or overturning anything, and without making a noisethat would have betrayed us.
We had now reached the limits of the encampment, which were by no meanseasy to pass, for they had been rapidly fortified, ditches had beendug, and entrenchments thrown up. But the work having been hastily donewas not very solid.
The Prince leaned down close to my ear, and said to me:
"Try to break down the earth wall, and turn it into the ditch so as tofill it up."
I understood, and went to work. The ground was still soft and yieldedreadily; but I could not prevent a dull thud when it fell into theditch. It was a very feeble smothered sound ... and yet to me it seemedtremendous!
At last the opening was made. I passed through, plodded across the mudin the bottom of the ditch, and succeeded in climbing up the other side.
_We were out of the camp_, and I joyfully quickened my pace.
But a cry resounded--a cry of alarm. They had seen us in the openspace, which I was crossing now at full speed.... "Beware, Master!" Iseized him and placed him cross-wise upon my tusks, supporting him withmy trunk, and without slack
ening my pace. My quick ear had detected thesound of loading guns--they were going to fire upon us; but my Prince,protected by the bulk of my great body would be in no danger.
A sudden light flashed in the darkness; there was a rattling volley ofshots, and a shower of bullets struck my crupper. They bounded off, forthese little leaden pellets are incapable of penetrating the tough hideof an elephant. They merely stung me like little pricks of red-hot iron.
A second discharge fell short, with the exception of a single ballwhich grazed my ear, and carried off a small piece.
I ran still faster, hoping to gain the shelter of a thicket which atleast would protect us from the bullets.
Just as I reached it I heard the sound of galloping horses.
"We are pursued," said Alemguir. He had resumed his place on my neck. Iplunged into the thickest of the woods, making a pathway by the aid ofmy tusks, crushing the branches under my feet. But this delayed us; italso betrayed our course, and left an open road for our enemies.
There seemed no way of meeting this danger, and I trembled with ananxiety that for the moment paralyzed me.
My Master, full of courage, spoke soothingly to me.
"Calm yourself," said he, "there is no cause for despair; you know howhorses fear you; if they reach us you have only to turn and fall uponthem to terrify them, and put them to flight!"
But although I could not say so in words, my thought was, _The shotscan reach my Master_!
However, I took courage, and managed to push on still faster. The day,which comes so early in summer, began to break. A dull continuous noisenow became audible, and drowned the sound of the horses' hoofs.
"That must be a river," said Alemguir. "If we can but reach it and putit between us and our pursuers, we shall be saved."
I raised my trunk, snuffing the air to discover the direction ofthe water, and changed my course. The wood now became less dense; Iadvanced more easily between the young trees and saplings which Icrushed under foot; and we soon found ourselves beside a rapid riverwhich flowed in the depths of a ravine. The water, which boiled inplaces and ran with a dizzy swiftness, had dug for itself a bed in theclayey soil, and flowed as it were between two walls.
"Alas!" said the Prince; "that which I hoped would be our salvation isgoing to be our ruin! It will never be possible to descend to the levelof this river."
To my mind it was difficult--but not impossible. And as there was notime to waste in reflection, I went to work at once digging the claywith my tusks, stamping it down with my feet, and throwing it right andleft, in a way to form a sort of incline; but when I thought I mightrisk myself upon it the earth crumbled away, and, sliding down thesticky mud, I shot into the water more quickly than I had intended,with a tremendous _splash_ that sent the water up into the air to anamazing height. Luckily, my Master had been able to cling to my ear,and was none the worse. So I was soon relieved, though astounded at mysudden descent.
The current now carried us along, and I floated with it. It saved meall exertion, and I reposed deliciously in the cool refreshing water,which restored my strength. The Prince also was invigorated. He leanedover several times to drink out of the hollow of his hand.
Suddenly he turned his head.
"Here come our enemies!" said he.
The horsemen, following the pathway which I had made in the woods,had reached the banks of the river; they saw us, and riding along theborders they started in pursuit of us.
The Prince watched them closely.
"They are taking aim," cried he, "give your _War-cry_!"
I tore up from the bottom of my lungs the most terrible yell in mypower! It was a success; and the echoes repeated it as if they wouldnever stop. It did not fail to produce the effect my Master expected.The horses were terrified and reared in disorder, and the shotsscattered, without reaching us.
"We know how to defend ourselves for the present," said Alemguir;"some of the men are unhorsed, and the others have all they can do tocontrol their animals."
Having my back turned, I could see nothing, but was greatly rejoiced atwhat I heard.
The current continued to carry us on, and there was no way of landingon the other side, which presented only a straight wall, while on theside of our foes the shore was becoming less and less steep.
The soldiers of Mysore, having succeeded in quieting their steeds,now gained rapidly upon us; but it was a peril of another kind thatsuddenly alarmed me. I felt the water beginning to draw me on withincreasing swiftness, as though being attracted towards a gulf.I struggled vigorously against the current, endeavouring to drawbackwards, but I could affect but little its course, which had becomefearful in its rapidity. The Prince shared my anxiety.
"Help me," said he, "to stand upright on your neck, so that I can seewhat is this new danger."
I held up my trunk, and he leaned against it, steadying himself bymeans of it.
"Don't hesitate," shouted he in a trembling voice. "Throw yourselfonto the shore where our enemies are--the river is going to fall in acataract down into a horrible abyss!"
I swam with all my might towards the shore; but a force greater thanmine drew me towards the fall, from which we were now distant onlyabout a hundred yards.
"Courage! courage!" called my Master.
I made a desperate effort, straining every muscle, and putting forthevery ounce of strength that I possessed. But I was out of breath,stunned by the fearful roar of the cataract, now so near, and blindedby the spray of the boiling waters.
TRANSPORTED WITH RAGE I RAN AT HIM, SEIZED HIM WITH MYTRUNK AND DRAGGED HIM FROM THE SADDLE]
I felt that hope was at an end. And I was about to abandon effort whenI felt the ground under my feet. That revived me; in two strokes I waswithin a few yards of the shore, standing on a bottom of solid rock, myflanks panting with a cruel lack of breath.
A SPLENDID PROCESSION WAS FORMED AND BEGAN ITS MARCH. IFOLLOWED NEXT AFTER THE KING.]
The Prince, whose limbs I could feel still trembled, stroked me withhis hand and spoke gently to me. The water ran foaming between my legsas though they were the piers of a bridge; but it could no longer carryme away.
The soldiers now rode up with shouts of joy, and were preparing to aimat their ease, when "_Charge them!_" ordered my Master.
I thundered my war-cry, and rushed at them from the water, with mytrunk uplifted.
The horses took fright, plunging and seizing the bit; a number of themran off "ventre-a-terre."
The captain of the soldiers was furious; mastering his horse by meansof the spurs, he fired. The ball passed so close to the head ofAlemguir that it singed his hair. At this, transported with rage, I ranat him; I seized him with my trunk, and dragged him out of the saddle.At the shriek which he uttered his companions, instead of coming to hisrescue, left him and fled.
For a moment I balanced him in the air, like a trophy; then I tossedhim into the middle of the river, where he fell with a splash almostas great as the one I myself had made recently.
The wretch struggled for a moment, and then was swept on and dashedover the cataract.