Our client was a man among men . He removed his own coarse linen shirt and tore it up , in an attempt to bind up Jeddiah's wounds. At the hospital , our client offered to pay for Jeddiah's treatment . Even though Karim and l told him not to worry about it , he insisted . Can a greater form of unity ever exist ? Here , we had a wealthy American Protestant Christian client , two upper middle class Indian Muslim Shikaris and a Garo tribesman , all of whom equally respected and cared for each other and were willing to help each other at a time of need. I believe firmly that people who hunt dangerous animals together and people who serve in the armed forces together , develop a a respect towards each other regardless of any differences in nationality , religion , gender , race or any other irrelevant factors. It is a bond stronger than steel . For three months , Jeddiah was hospitalized . We did not hunt during these three months , as Karim and l were taking turns to watch Jeddiah at the hospital. Even my girl friend , Antora came to visit him a few days. We did not know if he would live or die . Every day , we prayed for his recovery. The Lord answered our prayers . Jeddiah did recover from his attack , but he had lost an ear and he needed 47 stitches . Karim and l were extremely relieved and happy to see him , on his feet again . Of course , we did not expect him to ever work as a tracker for us , again . We were to be proven wrong .
In six months , Jeddiah was back in the Shikar field with us , tracking dangerous animals and telling us jokes near the camp fire ( which we would translate to clients to entertain them ) . His leopard attack and the loss of an ear , did not seem to diminish his tracking skills even the slightest .
I would like to add that the coolies who skinned that leopard told Karim and l that the leopard had some broken teeth , which was doubtlessly the work of Karim's point blank shot-gun blast . It is probably those broken teeth which had impaired the creature's biting ability and what had allowed Jeddiah to survive.
I would like to dedicate this article to my loyal coolie , Jeddiah without whom many of the animals which l have hunted in my professional Shikari career , could not be secured . He was more like a grandfather figure to me than a tracker . This brave man died in 1976 of a heart attack . He was the most perfect tracker for a most imperfect Shikari such as myself .
I would like to conclude this account , with a word about that Weatherby rifle. While Mr. Weatherby is a most innovative gentleman , l am not a big believer in bullets with overtly high velocities for dangerous animals . In my humble opinion , no rifle for dangerous animals should have a velocity higher than 2400 feet per second. It may be counter productive. From what l had heard in 1970 , the magnum .460 was designed by Mr. Weatherby to be the most powerful cartridge in the world for dangerous animals . Even though , l never saw one face to face , l have always dreamt of shooting one ( just for trying , and not for actual hunting ) . Hopefully , this January , in Texas , my dream will come true thanks to Hoss Delgado and Don Fernando Delgado . I have noticed that it is not liked by many respected forum members here , probably with sound reason , which also leads me to believe that maybe the magnum .460 was not an improvement as anticipated , after all. However , l look forward to trying it .
I hope that you all have enjoyed this account , dear readers.
......FWB
www.africahunting.com
