NIGHTS OF TERROR

Hokitika Guardian, 9 January 1929, Page 7

NIGHTS OF TERROR

I>; A i' - Ri ' A' A JUX Cl i .LA. Up and down t-iio African coast, in native encampments, and among lilt; traders alio (teal in pens and nory, you arc likely to hear strange talcs *>. a young Sent unn nius i«ur tu e.uu fur liinisell ltie title of Lawrence 01 Airier., ins ex pious arc loiilined U .11 ‘T <r;,iiie hunting, oat ms-ptioiiou.c.ia. success, the stirciicss tif Ins mine. ..in. eye, and tile nanincauili u.-. up.iliahave befallen him. have mauc .tie..under Warulaw a man ui mystery ain. endless anecdotes. A GRIM I’KOIHKCY. He bewail by running away Imm school. At twelve amt a ban litjoined tile Black Watch and tougiit in llm War; ne was at tiiat time live feet tuiir 1 Holies in height, ami weighed ten stone! .His age was discovered, however, and he was dischargee, in ibid be re-ciilisted and kept in.* Secret until 1917, when he was again suit back. lie then went to Australia, a boy in years and a man in experience. He tried farming, until the drought broke him. I his cool yoiiug-

ler men Knocked about the . houtli riea islands for a spell; had it look at New Zealand; hiked all over the United States and Canada, where be •‘whiled away the time with a bit of bootlegging,’ and in 192>J, ,at the age of l&i, returned to his native Scotland firmly decided to settle down. One afternon, however, he went with his mother 011 a visit to a woman who was locally famous lor her power of second sight.

‘•Alex,” she said, “you vvil soon leave for Africa; you will lie for nights in the jungle, where a stick will save you* And when I see you again you will bear sears on your arm and forehead, and a broken knuckle.” Alex grinned at ibis, but the wanderlust had him, and within a lon night lie was working his passage on a -100-ton boat from Glasgow hound for Sydney, ile lelt the ship at Dtuhnn, and in half an hour secured a job as overseer in a coalmine at .Ikl a month. 11 is job, which was mainly superintending the native miners, involved him in several seiiifles, and ended in a light wii.li a six-foot black. Ward law boat his man, but broke tbe knuckle on bis riglit hand. TJUMI’MvI) TO DEATH. “j recalled that woman’s words,” he said, “and saw with some coiisier--11:1 Lion bow she had already proved correct on two points.” After a few months, Wardian’, who had saved a useful sum Worn Ins wages, decided to try big game limiting. He bought second-hand rilles and equipment, hired two native bojs, a tracker and a gun-bearer, and started after elephants in Rhodesia. On his first day he came upon n clearing near Kashi tu. Signs round the water-hole told of a herd of elephants in the vicinity, and a low rumble was heard as the monsters ambled through the bush to their morning drink. Yvnrdlaw handed a gun to his bearer, and told him to shoot the first elephant to appear, knowing that the biggest of the herd always lead the way to water. By a mischance, however, the first proved to

.e a ha,by elephant, which the native dropped with a single shot. •‘I saw his mistake at once,” continued the hunter, “and knew only too well the consequences. I leaned aside and swarmed up the nearest tree. popping my rifle and shouting to my bearer to do the same. But before the poor fellow could move an inch tbe cow elephant, a huge beast, rounded the corner, saw lur dead oflspiiug, and sighted the native. In a flash the elephant had covered the inter,cuing 2b yards, am! was on the wretched nigger—like that!

He clapped his bands expressively. “A man on the fastest nmelmme 011 Id not have escaped. 'Unit elephant’s revenge was terrible. I’rum .„ove, I was forced to watch hui *r.iinplc, dance, and jump on the •oily ol my unlortiiniiie bearer lor tw>,ml a half hours, until nothing of tin Liagetty remained but a dull-reddish rown patch of soaked glass. 'ln. re

... 1S m ;t a vestige of recognisable liosi or bone.”

Kor most men Unis would have beer enough for one day, but Wardlaw war 'elermiucd Lo wreak vciige.ime lor hi lost hearer, and with the remaining bov. who had waited out ol harm s vav, he followed Idie herd, and from the lop of a tree brought, down Hue. , fludr Lusks earned him £GUI lor hi; first day’s bunting! Ho decided that his fortune lay in this pursuit of ivory, and alter puiebusing heavier guns in Bulawayo and employ'd three native hunters, he ... pm in earnest at a place called X'lianga, on the Übangi River, he Lueen I'Yencdi and lielgian Congo. His days were spent, in shunting, and ai ji. rio Is lie would load his tusks in «anoes and Lake them down to Hlinsavjjle, where be sold them to the Aral* dealers. lie cleared a profit of .P-H |,., s 1b, ,11 IS mouths and lie was mil v -I!

HIS nKOOIvD H\(!. S..«*S;in}-'; \iirioly, lie *Sc‘.-i«U*-l »•> g" ill I'M- lions, lie heard Hint n mini had ie,.,.i,ljy bagged seven in n single night j,t n place culled Maktan, iienr Kilimanjaro. Ho immediately went there inn! took a;) his position in a small wooden shell beside n railway track. Above the shed was a water tank lor Ihe engines; this leaked, fanning puddles on the a.round, the only water for miles around.

‘‘On niy iirsl night 1 made a record for Kenya Colony, and it may be lo; the world,” lie continued. ‘‘l removed a board from the side of the hut, and, sitting quite comfortably in a vice l . (Imir insuie, and in complete dar.* ness, awaited the stealthy approach of the game. “A broken twig and a pair of bal.ltii 1 yes oii'y a yard liv.ll, imiie gave the amrai, and i bred—my u.rsi tropuy. Throughout the night the kings 01 tin io e.it lau.e to drum, and I bagged !•’<

1 ail grown lion*.” •'la .j.i.a.aij ,a.,L year,” he Went on i left Da;-os-._.tlaam .or n.c lje.ga.;

v oiigu - . .is time in SC..IUI it «.opards. .... n a;...ni 1 ..i/tiui set and nail sleel-

; ... *rap.* and mspei 1 liicin tlie following mm uiiig. lor some days l urew a series ul depressing -ilaiiivs. Then one morning a huge, loaruc o. me was tearing at tile trap. Warily I paced around to see huu the animal was cat.gut, and 1 found that it was held by a hand claw uniy. •‘At tiiat nioiiiont the leopard made a mighty loop and broke clear. His leap carried him on top of me. A claw ripped my arm to ribbons, and I went down with the beast on top. With vicious playfulness lie dubbed a claw at my forehead, ripping a piece of flesh clean away. I lien lie raised his head and howled for his mate, anti in that moment’s respite 1 was able to draw my clasp knife and thrust to his heart, lie leaped five yards and dropped dead. Even as I lay there, sweating and shivering alternately with the reaction, 1 remembered again that Scottish woman’s forecast. Was she to be wholly right in her grim prophecy?

it came about thus:— A number of natives and occasional whites brought Ward I aw' weir'd tales of an enormous “phantom elephant,” so called because it was credited vvitn four tusks, a valuable freak, This was too much for the young Scot's adventurous spiril, and, getting together a hand of carriers, he went on its trail. THE PHANTOM. ELEPHANT. When Got) uniles from the nearest oubpost |of civilisation (Albertville) lie sighted his quarry, a huge, un-canny-looking brute with double tbe normal pair of lu.sk?>. H lie had cauglii it, it- would have « ariiod him as a museum specimen. As it was, lie managed to wound it, and for days followed hard upon its bloody spoor.

At a point where the jungle dosed in lo shut out all sunlight, where the undergrowth and trees formed one thick maze of foliage, hot and fetid, Wardlaw suddenly pitched forward on his face —a victim of black water fever. To a man the natives turned and bolted.’ Two yards from the stricken man lay his rifle.

With the coming of night, Wardlaw regained consciousness, only to find that he was too weak to shout or raise a finger. All through that bitterly cold night, as icy as the day was burning, he lay awake and staling with only the dread jungle folk for company. The morning came and he was still alive. In his bottle he had two pints of water, which, with infinite.pains, he managed to raise to his lip and sip sparingly. That day he moved exactly 12in nearer If.is rifle; it was all his fevered frame could achieve. At night fresh horrors awaited him. ‘‘lf over a man was near to madness 1 was the,” he said, and his eyes betrayed the horror not yet wholly effaced. “I was parched, yet it meant a tremendous effort to raise the bottle to iny lips; and 1 had the sense only to drink when absolutely forced. The next day I crawled a few inches nearer my gun, and on the i mirth day I reached it.

“All that night 1 lived round after round in the dual hope of attracting help and scaring the brutes ol tbe (crest. No help came, and my little store of strength was failing fast. On the seventh day my water gave out, and for two more days ol agony I lay without a drop to aliay the lever.” On the ninth day lie "' ils louml by a native runner, who promptly lelche 1 the headman of the nearest tri.be. I In* headman was brought with bis small stick—and that fai-elf woman’s pro phony was complete. The stick wa > from the root of a medicinal Like, and with it the headman brewed a Hue which be gave to the sick man. .Natives then carried him GbO mile lo the hospital at Alb rLville. and Wardlaw pulled through, though tor two months ai'lcr his ordeal he was -.1 one-blind.