o was the man before my father. Since then we
serve in the Vindha Hills. My twin brother was called with his master,
to the teak jungles of the South; but I have been with the
trap-stockades till now, when they send me down to these plains with
the catch of all seasons."

"It is a good hearing," said the very old man, as they all bent their
heads; and the youngest mahout carefully arranged some specially good
tobacco in Ram Yaksahn's hookah.

"Now what is his record?" one asked.

"First, there is a record," Ram Yaksahn replied, "which may be his or
another's. It is your right to know.

"Four monsoons before this elephant was trapped, the body of a forest
reserve officer was found on a mountain slope. The head was broken;
and the ribs. Rains had washed away all earth-marks, but small trees
had been uprooted near that place; therefore the thing had been done by
an elephant. Close by, a dead dog lay; entirely battered--and a split
stick. Burial was given to that man with few words. He was not
mourned. May the gods render to him his due!"

The mahouts assented, as Ram Yaksahn smoked a moment.

"Be patient with me, most honourable," he went on, in strained tones.
"I come to you serving a strange master. The record I tell now, is
truly your right to know."

"Have no fear; we serve with you!" Kudrat Sharif reassured him.

"Some months after this elephant was trapped," he continued, "they had
him picketed in the working grounds--to learn the voices of men. It
was there, in the midst of us all, that he killed his first mahout. No
man could prevent.

"That mahout was a violent man. He had just struck his own child an
unlawful blow. She lay on the ground as the dead lie. Then it was
that this elephant moved before any man could move. We heard his
picket stakes come up, but we did not see them come up. No man could
prevent.

"He gathered the child's dead body in his trunk and swung it back and
forth--back and forth. It hung like a cloth. Slowly he came nearer to
his mahout, while he swung the body of the child. When he was close,
he laid the body between his own front feet. The violent man stood
watching like one in a dream.

"Then this elephant who is now my master, caught the man who stood
watching--as you saw him take me down, swiftly--and swung him, but in a
circle. The man struck the ground on his head and it was broken; also
his ribs."

Low murmurs of appreciation swelled among the listen