Chapter 21 Chapter 5 Night Raid

The colonel's leaving without saying goodbye made us deeply anxious.Obviously, what he is looking for is the past that everyone thinks is long past, but what can be done?Go after this Mr. Edward Morrow?We didn't know which direction he was going, nor where he was going on the Nepalese border.In addition, we also know that the reason why he said nothing to Bonkers is that he is trying to escape for fear of the latter's opposition.For this reason, Bonkers deeply regrets having participated in the hunt. Just accept the fact and wait patiently.Colonel Morrow will definitely be back before the end of August, for this is the last month we are supposed to be in the Himalayas, after which we have to cross the Southwest by way of Bombay.

Carragani was under the careful care of Bonkers, and the wound would heal soon. He only spent 24 hours in the "steam room" before returning to Weizha Village. The weather at the beginning of August was still torrential rain, and, according to Captain Ord, cold enough for a frog to catch a cold; travel. The contact with Weizha Village is very frequent.Marcia van Kitt was still very dissatisfied.He also wanted to leave camp in early September, but his zoo was short of a lion, two tigers and two leopards, and he wondered if he could make up the team. However, the animals he wanted to capture for his clients were late, and characters he didn't need came along.

So, on August 4th, a beautiful black bear fell into one of his traps. We happened to be at the fence village when his porters brought the wheeled cage containing the black bear. It is rare among bears. "Hey! What's the use of this slow, stupid fellow!" Shrugged the animal dealer. "Brother Baron! Brother Baron!" the Indians shouted in unison. It seems that the Indian, if not the nephew of the tiger, is at least the brother of the bear. Marcia Van Kitt took "Brother Barron" with undisguised malice, regardless of the distance of his kin.It certainly didn't make him happy to catch a black bear when a tiger was desperately needed.What to do with this nasty beast?It is not appropriate to keep it for nothing with no hope of recouping the cost.In the European market, the demand for Indian bears is very small, and they do not have the commercial value of American brown bears and polar white bears.Marcia Van Giet, therefore, being a shrewd businessman, did not consider this lumbering and troublesome animal.

"Do you want it?" he asked Captain Ord. "What do you want me to do with it?" replied the captain. "Cook the steak," said the merchant, "if I can use the misnomer." "Mr. Van Gyet," said Bonkers solemnly, "a misnomer is only a viable figure of speech if there is no other word but the one which expresses the meaning properly." "I thought so too," argued the veterinarian. "Well, Odd," continued Bonkers, "would you like Mr. Van Kitt's black bear?" "Definitely not!" replied the captain. "If the bear is dead, eating a 'steak' made of bear meat is passable; but killing a bear for its chops turns my stomach!"

"Well, let the animal go," said Marcia Van Kitt, turning to the porters. His orders are carried out.The cage was pushed out.An Indian opened the door. "Brother Baron" seemed rather embarrassed by his position; and so generously promised this release.He stepped out of the cage unhurriedly, gave a little shake of the head—could be taken as a thank you, and ran away with a satisfied howl. "You did a good job," Bonkers said. "It will bring you good luck, Mr. Van Giet!" Bonkers did not expect to be so accurate.On August 6th, the animal dealer was compensated, and he caught a beast that was missing in the zoo.

The specific situation is this: Marcia Van Giet, Captain Ord and I, together with Fox, Mechanic Stoll, and Caragani, were searching for prey in a thicket of cacti and frankincense wood, when we heard A few dull growls. Everyone immediately leaned towards the suspicious place, holding their guns and preparing to fire, and the six of them were closely spaced to prevent the passiveness of individual combat. When we were about fifty steps away, the animal dealer told us to stop.Judging from the characteristics of the roar, he seemed to have recognized what kind of animal it was. He turned specifically to Captain Ord and ordered:

"Never fire a useless gun." Then he took a few steps forward while we obeyed his gestures and stayed behind. "A lion!" he cried. Indeed, one animal was struggling at the end of a thick rope, which was fastened to a sturdy tree-fork. A real lion, the kind without a mane—a quality that distinguishes them from African lions—but a real lion, which Marcia van Kitt had only dreamed of. One of the beast's front paws was caught by a looped knot, and it hung there. It struggled but could not escape. Captain Ord's first move was to shoot despite the animal dealer's warning.

"Don't shoot, Captain!" Marcia Van Kit shouted. "I beg you, don't shoot!" "Can……" "No! Just can't! I warn you! This lion has fallen into my trap, and it belongs to me!" It was indeed a trap—a gallows trap, simple and ingenious. Tie a strong rope to the thick, pliable branch.The tip of the branch was bent towards the ground so that the bottom end of the slipknotted rope could fit into the cut of the stake firmly driven into the ground.Put the bait on the stake again, so that the animal that wants to eat must put its head or a paw into the cover to get it.But no sooner had he stretched out than the slightest touch of the bait caused the rope to escape from the cut in the stake, the branch sprang up, and the prey was lifted, while at the same time a very heavy stake rolled down the rope and fell on it. A knot tightens it so that it cannot be loosened by the struggle of the prey.

Traps of this kind, which are often set in the forests of India, catch far more animals than is supposed. Often the animal was choked and strangled almost immediately, while its head was smashed in half by the heavy stake.But our struggling lion is just caught in the claws.Therefore, it is not only alive, but also full of vitality, and it is qualified to be among the distinguished guests of the animal dealer. Marcia van Geet, overjoyed at his good fortune, hastened Calagani back to the corral, ordering him to have the coachman bring the cage on wheels.In the meantime, we were able to watch the lion at his leisure, all the more enraged by our presence.

The animal dealers kept their eyes on the lions.He walked around the tree, taking care not to be touched by the lion's paws dancing up and down. Half an hour later, the animal cage pulled by two cows arrived.We had no trouble shutting in the hanging lion, and then we went home. "I'm really starting to despair," Marcia van Geet told us. "Among the forest animals of India, there are not many lions..." "Forest animals?" asked Colonel Ord. "Yes, it refers to the animals that often appear in the forest area. I am really glad that I can catch this beast. It will bring glory to my zoo!"

Needless to say, from this day forward, Marcia van Geet did not have to complain about his bad luck. On August 11, two leopards were caught together in the same tiger trap from which we rescued the animal trader. These are two Zetas leopards, very similar to the leopard that boldly attacked the "Iron Behemoth" on the plains of Rosi Cohand, which we did not catch at the time. Now, just two tigers away, Marcia van Kitt's cargo is ready. It was already August 15th, and Colonel Moreau still hadn't come back, and there was no news from him.Anxious but unwilling to show it, Bonkers asked Karagani, who was familiar with the situation on the Nepalese border, what danger Mr. Edward Morrow would encounter in this independent land.The Indian assured him that there was not a single Nana Saib party on the frontiers of Tibet.However, he looked regretful that the Colonel hadn't chosen him as a guide.Know that his services will be of great benefit in a region where he knows every trail.But now, it was impossible to find the Colonel. Captain Ord and Fox grew closer, continuing their adventure on foot in Taliani.With the help of those in Weizha Village, they successfully shot and killed three medium-sized tigers, and naturally they also took great risks.Two of them were hit by the captain, and the third was attributed to the orderly. "Forty-eight!" said Ord, desperate to reach fifty before leaving the Himalayas. "Thirty-ninth!" Fox counted, but did not include the leopard that had been killed by his gun. On August 20, the penultimate tiger that Marcia van Gyter needed was caught in a trap, and before that, they always escaped by instinct or chance.As in most cases, Tiger was injured in the fall, but not at all serious, just a few days of rest will suffice to recover, and the wounds should not be visible when handed over to Hagenbeck and Hamburg. To an expert, trap hunting is a brutal practice.Obviously, either way is fine for simply killing animals, but it's different when it comes to capturing them alive, because they are too easy to fall to their death, especially in the depths of fifteen to twenty When in a ten foot pit.It is rare that one of the ten does not fall and die from serious injuries.As a result, even in Mysore, where the practice was once celebrated, people are starting to abandon it, according to veterinarians. In short, the animals in Weizha Village are only short of a tiger.Marcia van Giet wanted to catch it and put it in the basket.He can't wait to return to Mumbai. It didn't take long for him to catch this tiger.But what a price!It is necessary to describe it in detail, because it is too expensive, too expensive. Under the careful arrangement of Captain Ord, a hunt was scheduled for the evening of August 26th.The objective conditions are very suitable: the night sky is clear, the atmosphere is quiet, and the moon is setting.If the night is too dark, wild animals will be less willing to come out of their dens, and the semi-clear sky will lure them. It just so happens that the curved "crescent moon" - Marcia van Giet used to describe the moon buds Words, -- would shimmer a little after midnight. Captain Ord and I, together with Fox and the interested Stoll, formed the nucleus of the hunt, joined by the veterinarian and some of his Indian hirelings, Karagani. So, near seven o'clock in the evening, we finished our supper, said good-bye to Bonkers, who did not want to go with us, and left the "Steam House", and arrived at Weishang Village by eight o'clock without any trouble. Marcia van Kitt had now finished his meal and received us as usual.Everyone discussed for a while, and the hunting plan was quickly finalized. The point was to ambush somewhere on the bank of a river frequented by two tigers at night. The river was two miles away from Weizha Village, in the depths of a gully called Nilahuo by the locals. Any bait, the Indians say is of no use, and a hunt just done in this part of the Nilaho showed that the tigers' desire to quench their thirst was enough to attract them to the rapids at the bottom of the Nilaho beside.Besides, we know it's convenient and easy to hide here. We won't leave until midnight.But it's only past seven o'clock.Just be patient. "Gentlemen," said Marcia Van Giet, "you can live in all the rooms as you please. I advise you to go to bed like me. We will start early tomorrow. A few hours of sleep will make it easier for us to fight." "Do you want to sleep, Mockley?" Captain Ord asked me. "No," I replied, "I'd rather go for a walk to pass the time than be woken up when I'm sound asleep." "As you please, gentlemen," said the dealer. "I'm so sleepy that my eyelids are fighting. You see, I want to! 'Stretch your limbs'." Marcia van Kitt then raised her arms, stretched her head and upper body a long way, and yawned a few times, which was very telling. After thus "stretching his limbs" with great satisfaction, he made a final gesture of farewell to us, and retired to his hut, where he presumably soon fell asleep. "What about us, what are we doing?" I asked. "Let's hang out, Mockley," replied Captain Ord. "It's such a beautiful night to take a walk in this fenced village. It will leave me more refreshed than a three- or four-hour nap, and besides, although nap is our best friend, he often Long overdue!" So we strode away in the village, the two of us meditating and talking a few words.Stoll—his "best friend" had no habit of being late—had fallen asleep under a tree.The hunters and coachmen also huddled in their respective corners, and there was no one watching the night inside the fence. This was unnecessary, for the village was quite closed with a strong fence around it. Caragani himself went to check that the door had been carefully shut; then, bidding us good night on our meeting, retired to the room where he shared with his companions. It was just Captain Ord and me. Not only Van Giet's servants, but even the domestic and wild animals were asleep. The wild animals were lying in their cages, and the domestic animals were gathered under the big tree at the end of the village.There was as much silence inside and outside the fence. We walked first towards the buffalo territory.These beautiful ruminants, because of their docile temperament, were not even tied to a rope.They are frequent visitors of the big maple tree. At this moment, they are lying down and resting under its branches and leaves. Their horns are intertwined and their legs are tucked under their bodies. Slow and noisy breathing can be heard coming from among these big guys. We didn't wake them up when we got close.Only one raised its big head for a while, glanced at us with the dull eyes unique to this kind of animal, and then buried its head in the herd again. "See what enslavement or domestication has done to them," I said to the captain. "Yes," replied the captain, "but in the wild they are quite formidable animals. But they have strength but little dexterity, and besides, their horns are no match for the tusks of a lion and the claws of a tiger." ? There is no doubt that the advantage is on the side of the beast." We talked while walking towards the cage.There, too, was silence.Tigers, lions, and leopards sleep in their own cages.Marcia van Kitt brought the same kind together after their feral nature had been tamed by weeks of captivity, and with good reason.Otherwise, when these ferocious beasts were first locked up, they would definitely bite each other. The three lions did not move, they formed a half circle like big cats.They were fast asleep, their heads hidden from sight in thick black hair. The tigers in the cage are not so docile.His bright eyes gleamed in the shadows.A big claw stretched out from time to time, scratching the iron railing.This is the sleep of wild predators. "I know, they are having nightmares!" said the captain pityingly. Undoubtedly, a bit of remorse, or at least a bit of regret, was also disturbing the three leopards.At this time, if they are freed from all fetters, they should be galloping in the forest!It should be wandering around the hunting ground, searching for fresh prey! As for the four panthers, no nightmares disturbed their sleep.They sleep peacefully.Two of them, a male and a female, slept in the same cage, as if they were in their own den. Only one cage remained empty--for the sixth uncaught tiger, which Marcia van Kitt had left Waisha Village just waiting for it to be caught. Our walk lasted nearly an hour.After walking around the fence, the two went back to a large acacia tree and sat down. The whole forest was silent.The wind that had rustled the leaves at dusk had died down.Not a single leaf moved.On the windless high ground, the waning moon moves westward, and the atmosphere is as quiet as the flat ground. I sat side by side with Captain Ord and said nothing more.But the two still couldn't sleep.In the tranquility of nature, people experience more spiritual immersion than sensory absorption.Thinking without knowing what it is thinking, dreaming is like a dream when waking up, and the eyes that are not covered by the eyelids are deliberately invested in some fantastic imagination. The captain, however, was startled by the unusual situation, and whispered to me, as one does almost unconsciously in silence. "Mockley, I am amazed by the silence! Wild animals are used to howling in the dark, so the night in the forest is very noisy. Even if there are no tigers and leopards, the jackals will howl. This enclosure is full of creatures , should attract them in droves, but we heard nothing, not even the snapping of dead branches on the ground, let alone the roar of wild animals. If Marcia Van Giet woke up, he would His surprise will certainly not be smaller than mine, and he will probably be able to express this surprise in astonishing words." "You're right, Odd dear," I replied, "and I don't know why I don't see these nocturnal creatures. But we both have to be careful not to let ourselves sleep in this quiet environment." caught!" "Hold on! We're going to hold on!" replied the captain, stretching his arms. "The time of departure is getting closer." We then began to talk again, but the words dragged and were often accompanied by long silences. How long this half-asleep lasted I cannot tell; but suddenly a dull commotion woke me from my stupor. Captain Ord was also awakened from his sluggishness, and stood up at the same time as me. There is no doubt that the commotion started from the cage. Lions, tigers, panthers, and leopards, who had been so quiet just now, were now roaring angrily.They stood in their respective compartments, running back and forth in short steps, breathing strongly a certain smell from outside the corral, snorting, and arching their backs against the iron bars of the cage. "What happened to them?" I asked. "I don't know," replied the captain, "I'm afraid they sensed it..." Suddenly, deafening roars erupted from all around Weizha Village. "It's a tiger!" shouted Captain Ord, running to Marcia Van Giet's hut. However, the roar was so loud that everyone in the village had already got up, and the animal dealer showed up at the door with his fellows. "It's an attack!" he yelled. "I think so," replied the captain. "Wait a minute! Let me see! . . . " Before he could finish speaking, Marcia Van Kitt had grabbed the ladder and leaned against the fence.It climbed to the top in two strokes. "Ten tigers and a dozen or so panthers!" he shouted. "It's no joke," Captain Ord replied. "We wanted to hunt them down, but now they are besieging us!" "Take the gun! Take the gun!" shouted the animal dealer. Everyone did what they said, and twenty seconds later they were all ready to shoot. Swarms of wild beasts are not uncommon across India.How many times have the inhabitants of this tiger- and leopard-infested land, especially those of the Sund Benz, been besieged in their dwellings!This kind of unexpected situation is really frightening, and in most cases, it is the wild beast that succeeds in sneak attack. But now, the howling outside the fence merged with the roar inside the fence, and the inside of the fence blended with the forest outside.We couldn't hear each other's words. "Go to the fence!" cried Marcia van Kitt, more intelligible by gesture than by sound. We rushed for the fence. The buffalo was terrified at this moment, rushing left and right to break out of the circled place.The driver's efforts to keep them in place were futile. Suddenly, the gate of Waili Village—the latch was obviously not locked—was slammed open, and a group of wild animals rushed in. However, Caragani has closed the door with the utmost care, as in the past! "Go back to the house! Go back to the house!" cried Marcia Van Kitt, running to the house, which alone could serve as a place of refuge. But will we get there in time? The tiger had caught up with the two "Shikari" and threw them to the ground.The rest of the hunters, unable to get to the house, fled in all directions in Weizha Village, trying to find a hiding place. The animal supplier, Stoll and six Indians had already entered the room, and just as the two leopards were about to rush in, the door was closed in time. Caragani, Fox, and the others scrambled up the tree to the highest branches. Captain Ord and I have neither the time nor the possibility to join Marcia van Geet. "Mockley! Mockley!" cried the captain, whose right arm had just been scratched by a claw. With another sweep of the tail, a big tiger threw me to the ground.When the guy came at me again, I got up and ran to help Captain Ord. There is only one place we can take refuge: the empty space in the sixth cage.Soon, Odd and I got in, and the closed cage door made us temporarily escape the pursuit of the wild beasts, which were still roaring and squeezing the iron bars of the cage. The beasts outside the cage were furious, and the tiger locked in the next grid was also furious, so that the animal cage on the wheels shook and was about to fall to the ground. Fortunately, the tigers outside the cages soon abandoned their cages and snatched less reliable prey. Through the latticed iron railings, what a scene we both witnessed without omission! "The world is turned upside down!" Captain Ord yelled furiously. "They're out there, and we're prisoners!" "How's your injury?" I asked. "It's okay!" Then there were five or six shots.It was from the hut where Marcia Van Gitter was, and two tigers and three panthers were storming the house. One of them was killed by a "explosive bomb," presumably from Stoll's carbine. Other wild beasts were the first to pounce on the herd, and these unfortunate animals, defenseless, had to face such a ferocious foe. Fox, Karagani, and the Indians, who had just been forced to drop their weapons in order to climb the tree faster, couldn't help the buffaloes. Captain Ord stuck his carbine through the bars of the cage and fired.Although his left arm was a little numb from the injury and he couldn't shoot as well as usual, he was lucky to kill his forty-ninth tiger. At this time, the crazy buffalo howled and fled in the camp.They tried to use the bull's head to hit the tiger, but the latter avoided the bull's horns by jumping nimbly.A buffalo with a leopard on its head, its topknot armor has been torn off by its sharp claws, ran to the gate of the fence and rushed out. Five or six buffaloes that were chased into a ball by the beasts also ran out with it and disappeared. Several tigers chased after them closely; those buffaloes that failed to get out of the fence had their throats bitten off and their intestines opened, and their corpses lay on the ground. Several more shots were heard from the windows of the house.Captain Ord and I are also doing our best.Yet there was a new danger. The beast in the cage, excited by the smell of fierce fighting and blood and the howling of its kind, began to struggle violently.Will they break the stick?We are indeed very afraid. One cage containing a tiger was indeed tipped over.For a moment I thought they might have escaped through the crashed partition. Fortunately nothing happened, and the prisoners could no longer even see what was going on outside, because it was the barred side of the cage that was buckled to the ground. "Too many!" muttered Captain Ord, reloading his carbine. At this time, a tiger jumped into the air and grabbed a branch with its two claws, on which two or three hunters were taking refuge. An unfortunate Indian was bitten by the neck, struggling a few times before falling to the ground. A leopard came over to compete with the tiger to eat the dead body, and in the pool of blood, the bones could be heard being chewed and crackling. "Shoot! Shoot!" Odd yelled, as if he could be heard by Marcia van Kitt and his men. And now we are powerless to intervene!All the bullets are gone, and they can only act as a stand-by to watch this battle. At this moment, a tiger in the next cubicle was trying to break through the iron bars, but suddenly bumped violently, which finally made the whole cage lose its balance.The cage shook a few times and then fell over. Both of us got a little bruised, but got up on our knees.The partitions on all sides withstood the impact, but everything that happened outside could not be seen. You can't see it, but at least you can hear it!What a noise in Weizha Village!What a smell of blood is in the air!The battle seemed to be getting more intense.How is it?The beasts kept in the cage ran out?Attack on Marcia Van Kitt's house?Do tigers and leopards still jump up and eat Indians in trees? "Damn it, just can't get out!" cried the captain, really angry. It took about a quarter of an hour—every minute and every second felt like a long and unbearable time! —and so it passed. Next, the tumult of fighting gradually died down.The howling of the beasts was no longer deafening, and the tigers kept in the compartments of the cage no longer jumped up and down frequently.Is the fight over? Suddenly, I heard the gate of Zha Village being shut with a bang.Then, Carragani called our names loudly.Among his shouts was Fox's cry: "My captain! My captain!" "Here!" Odd replied. His words were heard, for I felt the cage rise almost immediately.After a while, we were free again. "Fox! Stoll!" The captain's first thought was to find his comrades. "Both of us are here!" The mechanic and orderly responded. They were not hurt at all.Marcia van Goet and Caragani were also unharmed.On the ground lay the dead bodies of two tigers and a leopard, and the rest had fled.Karagani has just closed the gates of the fenced village, and we are completely safe. During the battle, none of the wild beasts in the cage could escape, and the animal dealer even found out that there was another prisoner. This was a tiger cub, which was caught by the small sliding cage and locked in, as if it had fallen into a trap. Marcia van Kitt's goods are at last complete; but at what cost!Five buffaloes had their necks bitten off, and the rest ran away. There were also three Indian natives, whose stumped limbs and legs were terrible, and fell in a pool of blood.