Free 07 Elephant Adventure by Willard Price Page B

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