IN AFRICAN JUNGLE

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 10, 12 January 1929, Page 27

IN AFRICAN JUNGLE

PROPHECY FULFILLED

WILD ADVENTURES

Up and down the African coast vi native encampments, and among the traders who deal in pelts and ivory, you arc likely to hoar strange tales of a young .Scot who bids fair to earn for himself the title of "Lawrence of Africa." His'exploits are confined to big ; game hunting, Taut his phenomenal success, the surencss of his hand and eye, and the hairbreadth escapes that have befallen him, : have made Alexander Wardlaw a man of mystery and endless anecdotes.". •' •■> ... , . • ■ fle/'."b'dga'n;by,;; running;, a way from j school^.;.,A^.t\vxlve;and-a. half he joined the Black;' Watch! ancl-.fought in the [ war; ho. wa'srsa't ■tha.t..time, sft 4in -;in height;;and'weighed."lo stone! His--age was discovered,.: ..h give ver, and. he was j discharged. „liv 1915 he, re-enlisted and ! kept his secre.t.until il9i7, when he was again sont.bacls..;' He;,'theri went to Australia, •■■a" bby.;in:_.y'cars-.and a man" in experience^ .He;trisa.;farining until the .drought;,br6ko him;>This ; cool youngster then 'knocked: .abddteithe-South.- Sea Islands ;forva'spellji/had;'a look at New Zealand; .biked .air^ov.eV the United States;and : .Ca'r'aijaj■"''where he "whiled away •th;evtimo l . widr;'.a:bit of bootleggingj"' au,d',:in' »1920;-: at the age of IS, returned:'to;;his;na.tiV.e Scotland firmly decided to settle";down. One afternoon, however, he went with his mother on a. visit .to a woman who was locally famous for. her power of second sight. ;.,,"Alex,"-; ; slio said, '""yon"' will soon leave for; "Africa; :y6u will, lie for nights i« ;the. jungle, where' a" stick will save you! And when I'-'see iyou again you will'bear sears -.. 0n-.;your'ai-ni; and forehead,' and iv brokeiiVknuckle.?' ■.' ':' ; ; Alex grinned at thisV but tlie, wanderlust: had him, and within a fortnight he was working his passage on a 400----tonboat from Glasgow bound for Sydney. He left the ship at Durban, and in half an hour secured a job as overseer in'a coalmine at £40 a month.' His job; which was mainly superintending the native, miners, involved him in several scuffies,,and ended in a fight with a six-foot black. Wardlaw beat his man, but. broke the. knuckle'of his right hand. ' .. "'■''■■:'■"'. ' ' "Ii recalled that woman's words," he said,. an.d .saw.Avith .-some: consternation -that:; she -.-.had already proved right ;ontiyo; points. 1 ■■' ; ..After..a fpw months Wardlaw, who: .had saved a useful sum from his wagss, to try big ganie hunting. ,Ho bought second-hand rifles and equipment, hired two native'boys, a tracker,: and a gun-bearer, and started after elephants in Rhodesia,.' ;y . , . : On his first day"'ho came upon a clear-' ing near Kashltu. Signs round the jwuterhblo.; 1 told • of a, herd of elephants in the. vieinitjy and: a l.l6>v'.rumble was heard as '-the monsters ■ambled. througli the : bush for . their!;':jnorning drink.! Wardlaw handed. 1, a: gun ;to.;. his bearer, and told him to' shbof the first elephant to appear, knowing that the biggest of the herd always leads the way ■ to water. By a mischance, however, the first proved to be ■ a baby elephant, which the native dropped'with a single shot. . ■•' •■;•'..■.'., ' "I saw his mistake at once," continued the hunter,-"and knew only too' we'll the cdnsequencos.--;'; liQeaped aside and swarihediipthe nearest tree, dropping my rifle and shouting to my bearer to do the same. But before the poor fellow could move an inch the cow elephant, a huge beast, rounded the corner, saw her dead offspring, and sighted the native.''. Ima flash.the elephant Had ' bovere'd-"'the :intervoning ■ twenty-:

fivo yards, and .was on the wretched nigger—like that!" He clapped his hands expressively. '' A man on the fastest racehorse could -not have, es.qaped."; <That..;elephant's revenge, was From above I was forced to watch her trampl,e, dance, and jump on the body of my unfortunate, bearer for. two. and a half hours, ( until .nothing of the tragedy ! remained but a dull-reddish-brown patch of soaked grass.' 'There was not a vestige of recognisable fle.sh or bone." !■ For most -men this would have;'been enough for one day, but Wardlaw was determined to wreak vengeance for his lost' bearer, and' with the remaining boy who had _waited out'of harm's way, he followed the herd, and from the top of a tree brought down three. Their tusks earned him £600" for his first day's hunting! ; ' " .. He decided that his fortune lay in this pursuit of ivory; and after purchasing heavier, guns, in Bulawa-yo, and employing three, native hunters, he began in earnest at a place called Nehanga, on the Übangi Eiver, between French and Belgian Congo. His days were spent in shooting, and at periods he, would load his tusks in canoes and tafte them down" to Shasaville, where he sold them to the Arab dealers. He cleared .a profit of £2000. in less.than 18 months—and he was only 24! .-'! .■■'•'■■'; HIS RECOBD BAG. ' - ■„ Seeking variety, Wardlaw decided to go after lions. He heard that a man had. recently bagged., seven in a single night at a place called Maktau, near Kilimanjaro. ■..' He ..immediately ■, went there, and . took .up .his, ppsition; in a, small wooden shed beside a railway track. . Above the shed was a water tank for the engines; this leaked, forming puddles on' the ground—the only .'water, for miles,, around. V.o.n'..my :frrst'-night I-iinade ..a, record for Kenya Colony, and it may be\fot the world," be continued. "I removed a board from the side of the hut, and, sitting quite comfortably in a deck chair, inside,; and. in .Complete darkness, aVfaited'J'theSstSaHhy approach of the gairtel',:/;;'-'..,'.^;;':;,^^.''-^;.? • ,:-:■ \'-'fA bVokeii/twlg and a pair of baleS. ful eye's^bnly.";a yard from mine gaxe\ tl\b al^fm;,';|ncl I fired—my first trophy: Thi-oughout the night the kings of the foresV;eame to drink, and I bagged thir-te'en'v^iill-grown lions.'. , .:';';■'' ',-;'..',ln January last year," he went on'; "Jt left Dar-es-Salaam for the Belgiafi, Congo—this time in search of leopards}Each night I would set and bait stetel-:; jaw traps and inspect them the follo\yy ing morning. For some days I drewJa-. series of depressing blanks. Then .one'morning a huge, roaring brute . was tearing at th' 6, tfap, Warily I paced around to see, how the apimal. -w^s caught, and found thafpit 'By a hand claw, only. ■" ■■'It-.-y-i''' '%■•'. .-p r. "At that moment the leopard inady. a mighty leap and: broke clear. His l^ap carried him on ..top tf me. A claw ripped my arm to ribbons, and I went down with the - beast,, on .-top. ,»With vicious playfulness he dabbed "a claw

at my forehead, ripping a piece of flesb clean away. Then he raised his head and- howled for his mate, and in that moment of respite I was able to draw ray clasp knife and thrust it to his heart. He leaped 'live yards and dropped dead. ' "Even as I lay there, sweating and shivering alternately with the reaction, I remembered again that-Scottish woman 's forecast. -.•■, Was she to be wholly riglit in her grim prophecy,? : ; It came:' about thus:— • '«• ; A number of natives and occasional whites brought Wardlaw weird tales of an enormous '' phantom elephant,'' so called because it was accredited with four tusks'—a.: valuables freak. ..This was too much for-the young Scot's adventurous spirit, and, getting together a band of carriers/he went on its trail. >THE PHANTOM ELEPHANT. When 650 miles from the nearest outpost of civilisation (Albertville) he sighted his quarry, a huge, uncannylooking 'brute with double the normal pair of tusks. If he had caught it, it would have earned him £5000 as a museum specimen. ,As it was,, he managed to wound it, and for days followed hard upon its bloody spoor. At a point where the jungle closed in to shut out all sunlight, >where the undergrowth and trees formed one thick mass of foliage, hot and fetid, Wardlaw suddenly pitched forward on his face— a victim of blackwater fever. To a man the natives turned and bolted. Two yards from the stricken man lay his ■rifle;;:,' ;■■ :'". „'-■. . : ■ v \:' ' ■ .•;. .. ■ With the coming, of night, Wardlaw regainedl consciousness, only to findthat 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 staring with only the dread jungle folk for company.. The morning came and he was' still alive. . In his bottle be had two pints of water, which; with "infinite pains, he managed to raise to, his. lips and sip sparingly. That "day he moved exactly 12 inches nearer his rifle; it was all his fevered frame could achieve. At night fresh horrors awaited him. ,''lf ever, a'man.was near to=madness,. l',Vi'as;then;"yha said, and his -eyes.beri ti-ayed;the hbrioriiot yet wholly effaced, j "I was parched, yet it meant a tremendous effort to raise the bottle to my 4ips',iand I had the.'Sense.only to drink vwhen^iibsolutely fbVced::r!The next day.{ I'cradled a few inches nearer my gun,'! ;and;,:*on the fourthCday I reached it. .• ;:';';;'^A'll that night; li-flred round after; roulid, in the* dual hope'^Jpi attracting? .ihel^:and scaring ,jthe.i..i>jra|es, of the for-:; :ji|st,/.',':;Wo help catn;e£&n^mj| little store; Aofcstrength was 'failing'? fast. On the seventh day my water gave out, and for "^'wo'tnore days of agony I lay without ifedrpp to allay the d 'ever." „,;».;.:'.• /.,-; ;On the ninth day) he:;,;was fSun&ijiy s'\ na.tiye runner^ ,-,vyho .promptly;/;:, fetched the'lieadmanof'the nearest tribe. Natives then carried him 650 miles to -the hospital:. at _;;Albertville, -. and Wardlaw pulled through; .though for two. months .-after, his ordeal-, ho was stone-blind. "': '. ■ ,:.': , '-. v,, „. ■'>■■■■' ■ -„ ■' ■' ' '