CHAPTER IX

THE ESCAPE

Night came; fires dotted with their red flames the entire extent of the camp; the smoke mounted straight in the tranquil air; I saw around the camp-kettles the men crouching, their forms showing dark against the light; then there were dances, songs, and music. They were celebrating the victory by drinking, shouting and quarrelling; they even acted over again their hand-to-hand struggles, which grew so furious that blood flowed.

Then, little by little, silence fell; all was dark; a heavy sleep weighed 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. I listened; I peered into the obscurity. The tents formed little dark hillocks, 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 white tunics marched slowly with guns on their shoulders. I could see clearly their long white robes, and their muslin turbans. Sometimes the barrel of their gun sparkled, reflecting the ray of a star.

Kill these two men? Deliver my Master? and escape with him? Would such a thing be possible?...

The sentinels marched slowly around the prisoner's tent, walking in opposite directions from each other, so that all sides of the tent were constantly 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 positions they occupied while coming and going.

I observed that one soldier in crossing his companion turned his back to me, and then disappeared behind the tent, and at the same instant the other soldier also had his back to me, while making the circuit. A short moment only elapsed before the first one would reappear and be facing me.

I could not strike the two guards at one time; and if one saw me attack the other he would have time to give the alarm, and awaken the whole camp.

It was, then, during this one brief moment that I must act.

About twenty paces separated me from the tent, and this was an added difficulty--shortening still more the available time during which I would 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 I waited for the soldiers to make another turn--and moved still nearer. I preserved the attitude of a sleeping elephant; and they failed to notice 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 one fear was that I might not succeed; then, too, I felt a repugnance to slaying--by treachery as it seemed--these two unknown human beings. But after all, was it not men who had set me the example of ferocity? To save my Master I would have destroyed without remorse the entire army of the enemy!

My self-possession returned; and it was with the greatest coolness that I executed my plan.

The first soldier was seized by my trunk and strangled, with no sound except the cracking of his bones. I had just thrown aside his corpse when the other came face to face with me.

He did not cry out--terror prevented him; but he instinctively jumped backward, and so hastily that he fell.... The unfortunate man never rose; 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 be heard the occasional call of the sentinels who guarded the outskirts of the camp, of which we occupied the centre; no doubt they would soon be relieved--and perhaps also the guards of the Prince; there was not a moment to spare.

Yet I dared not approach my Master suddenly, lest he might utter an exclamation of surprise.

Was he sleeping, the dear Prince, worn out with fatigue? Or was he grieving 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 moments were slipping by made my skin creep!

All at once an idea came to me. I pulled up on one side the stakes that held the tent, and taking the canvas by the lower edge, I turned it half-way over, just as a strong wind might have done. There remained nothing between us, and I saw the Prince seated on the ground, his elbow on his knee, his head resting on his hand. He raised his head quickly, 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 their weight. They were nothing for me. With one blow they were broken--first those on the feet, and finally the heavier one, which, attached to a belt 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 and resolute now, he cast off the remnants of his shackles. I showed him the tether on my foot, and the stake that dragged after it. He stooped down and unfastened the cord; then I helped him to mount up on my neck.... Oh! what joy to feel him there again! But we were far from being out of danger.

He spoke no more. He concentrated all his attention upon directing our flight 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 the sentinels, and ascertain something of the arrangement of the camp, and of its extent, and its nearest limits.

He bent forward, darting his looks in every direction; but it was impossible to pierce the darkness for more than a hundred feet in advance.

Avenues had been formed between the tents, which had been placed in fairly even lines; but these pathways would naturally be guarded, and the Prince judged it would be safer to glide behind the tents in their confused and indistinct shadows.

Notwithstanding our appearance of heaviness, and our massive corpulence, we have the faculty of walking as noiselessly as a cat or a panther. A whole herd of elephants on the march, if they suspect any danger, can avoid snapping a twig, or rustling a leaf. The most acute hearing will fail to detect the sound of their footsteps; and whoever sees them filing past by hundreds would take them for phantoms. It would be quite proper to say "as _light_ as an _elephant_"--but I imagine the idea never occurred to any one.

This peculiarity explains how I was enabled to circulate between these thousands of tents, scarcely seeing my way, and obliged very often to pass through an opening barely larger than my own person, without running against, or overturning anything, and without making a noise that would have betrayed us.

We had now reached the limits of the encampment, which were by no means easy to pass, for they had been rapidly fortified, ditches had been dug, and entrenchments thrown up. But the work having been hastily done was 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 to fill it up."

I understood, and went to work. The ground was still soft and yielded readily; but I could not prevent a dull thud when it fell into the ditch. It was a very feeble smothered sound ... and yet to me it seemed tremendous!

At last the opening was made. I passed through, plodded across the mud in 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 open space, which I was crossing now at full speed.... "Beware, Master!" I seized him and placed him cross-wise upon my tusks, supporting him with my trunk, and without slackening my pace. My quick ear had detected the sound 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 of shots, and a shower of bullets struck my crupper. They bounded off, for these little leaden pellets are incapable of penetrating the tough hide of an elephant. They merely stung me like little pricks of red-hot iron.

A second discharge fell short, with the exception of a single ball which grazed my ear, and carried off a small piece.

I ran still faster, hoping to gain the shelter of a thicket which at least 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. I plunged into the thickest of the woods, making a pathway by the aid of my tusks, crushing the branches under my feet. But this delayed us; it also betrayed our course, and left an open road for our enemies.

There seemed no way of meeting this danger, and I trembled with an anxiety 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 how horses fear you; if they reach us you have only to turn and fall upon them to terrify them, and put them to flight!"

But although I could not say so in words, my thought was, _The shots can 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 noise now became audible, and drowned the sound of the horses' hoofs.

"That must be a river," said Alemguir. "If we can but reach it and put it between us and our pursuers, we shall be saved."

I raised my trunk, snuffing the air to discover the direction of the water, and changed my course. The wood now became less dense; I advanced more easily between the young trees and saplings which I crushed under foot; and we soon found ourselves beside a rapid river which flowed in the depths of a ravine. The water, which boiled in places and ran with a dizzy swiftness, had dug for itself a bed in the clayey soil, and flowed as it were between two walls.

"Alas!" said the Prince; "that which I hoped would be our salvation is going to be our ruin! It will never be possible to descend to the level of this river."

To my mind it was difficult--but not impossible. And as there was no time to waste in reflection, I went to work at once digging the clay with my tusks, stamping it down with my feet, and throwing it right and left, in a way to form a sort of incline; but when I thought I might risk myself upon it the earth crumbled away, and, sliding down the sticky 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 an amazing 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 my sudden descent.

The current now carried us along, and I floated with it. It saved me all exertion, and I reposed deliciously in the cool refreshing water, which restored my strength. The Prince also was invigorated. He leaned over 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 the borders 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 my power! It was a success; and the echoes repeated it as if they would never stop. It did not fail to produce the effect my Master expected. The horses were terrified and reared in disorder, and the shots scattered, 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 to control their animals."

Having my back turned, I could see nothing, but was greatly rejoiced at what I heard.

The current continued to carry us on, and there was no way of landing on the other side, which presented only a straight wall, while on the side 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 that suddenly alarmed me. I felt the water beginning to draw me on with increasing swiftness, as though being attracted towards a gulf. I struggled vigorously against the current, endeavouring to draw backwards, but I could affect but little its course, which had become fearful in its rapidity. The Prince shared my anxiety.

"Help me," said he, "to stand upright on your neck, so that I can see what is this new danger."

I held up my trunk, and he leaned against it, steadying himself by means of it.

"Don't hesitate," shouted he in a trembling voice. "Throw yourself onto the shore where our enemies are--the river is going to fall in a cataract down into a horrible abyss!"

I swam with all my might towards the shore; but a force greater than mine drew me towards the fall, from which we were now distant only about a hundred yards.

"Courage! courage!" called my Master.

I made a desperate effort, straining every muscle, and putting forth every ounce of strength that I possessed. But I was out of breath, stunned by the fearful roar of the cataract, now so near, and blinded by the spray of the boiling waters.

I felt that hope was at an end. And I was about to abandon effort when I felt the ground under my feet. That revived me; in two strokes I was within a few yards of the shore, standing on a bottom of solid rock, my flanks panting with a cruel lack of breath.

The Prince, whose limbs I could feel still trembled, stroked me with his hand and spoke gently to me. The water ran foaming between my legs as though they were the piers of a bridge; but it could no longer carry me away.

The soldiers now rode up with shouts of joy, and were preparing to aim at their ease, when "_Charge them!_" ordered my Master.

I thundered my war-cry, and rushed at them from the water, with my trunk uplifted.

The horses took fright, plunging and seizing the bit; a number of them ran off "ventre-à-terre."

The captain of the soldiers was furious; mastering his horse by means of the spurs, he fired. The ball passed so close to the head of Alemguir that it singed his hair. At this, transported with rage, I ran at 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 his rescue, left him and fled.

For a moment I balanced him in the air, like a trophy; then I tossed him into the middle of the river, where he fell with a splash almost as great as the one I myself had made recently.

The wretch struggled for a moment, and then was swept on and dashed over the cataract.