I went forward with him and found a huge elephant lying beside the train. Its two hind feet were crushed, as the engine, tender, and service car had passed over them; otherwise it was unhurt, and at times made violent efforts to stand upon its front feet. At such times the crowd of people would suddenly take flight, to be out of harm's way, and a box-car near by was in danger of being demolished. No one on the train was supplied with a large rifle, suitable for elephant hunting, but small ones kept up a lively fire, until perhaps three dozen were emptied into the huge bulk before it succumbed.
The engine had been derailed by the violence of the shock, and it would require some time before we could proceed. Judging from the spoor it was evident that the elephant was one of those large ones that roam the forests alone, and it had run quite a distance on the track before the engine struck it. It was an immense animal, and the large ears resembled a cape lying back over the shoulders.
There were a number of natives on the train, who were going down to work in the mines about Bulawayo, and they wished to begin at once on the feast of meat before them, but the authorities thought it best to put them at working the large jacks used in moving the engine back on the rails. All night long bright fires of logs were kept burning to light up the scene and work. The engine finally was in place, and the natives eagerly hastened to cut out large pieces of elephant meat and to roast it over the great beds of coal left from the campfires of the night. Soon, however, the train began to move, just twelve hours from the time of stopping, and the natives, with their raw or half-cooked meat, hastened to enter their car, and we moved on, having had a share in one of the most exciting railroad trips of the season. The tusks of this elephant finally found their way into the Bulawayo Museum.
The Elephant That Derailed the Train.
The tusks of the African elephant often are quite large and heavy. I once saw in a European home three pairs of tusks from elephants lately killed by a young farmer. Of one pair of tusks each was five feet long, eighteen inches in diameter; one weighed one hundred pounds and the other five pounds less. We are informed, however, that some have tusks still much larger than these.
It is unnecessary to give the details of this, our second trip south to Natal and Johannesburg, and my visit to our mission stations in the Matopos have already been mentioned. I was absent six months and felt thoroughly rested and ready for the work again. On my return to Bulawayo, however, I learned the sad news that the native who had come south on the train at the same time as myself had, since he was at home, fallen into sin. We were all deeply grieved over this, and he confessed and wept over his condition, but appeared discouraged and unable to take hold of the Lord by faith for pardon and cleansing. There were several others in his home who had once confessed Christ and had backslidden, and they no doubt had their influence over him. The Lord is still able to redeem him, and may he have our prayers. Such are some of the heavy burdens the missionaries have to bear.
On my return in June, 1910, Misses Mary Heisey and Elizabeth Engle accompanied me to Macha to pay a visit to that place. Brother Taylor met us at the station and conveyed us to the mission, where we were greeted by a crowd of boys and five girls, who had joined the mission family, with the clapping of hands and the firing of a rifle. We rejoiced that we could again return to our field of labor.
