t knocking Mowla Buksh off
his legs, in which case the mahowt would assuredly be killed. Besides,
our Director chanced to be in the forest at the time, and no one else
seemed ready to take the responsibility of ordering them out.

"When I came up to the musketeers, I saw the elephant rushing wildly
about, trying to find a way through them, with the old mahowt sticking
to his back like a burr.

"The Bulrampore men shouted to him to try and get the elephant to go to
his standing-place, saying that if he could persuade him to sit down
they would tie his legs up. After the brute had exhausted itself
somewhat by rushing about, the mahowt did succeed in recovering control
so far as to persuade him to move to his standing-place, which was not
far distant, and to our great relief he sat down in the usual way. The
Bulrampore men were as good as their word. Smart hands every one, they
ran up with ropes and commenced tying up his hind legs. Being experts
at the work, they manipulated the thick ropes with amazing rapidity, and
had the panting animal almost secured when he partially recovered, and
began to understand what was being done to him. He started up
indignantly, just before the knots were properly fastened, and struck
out right and left with his trunk, scattering the men in all directions.

"Although the ropes had not been quite secured, they were sufficiently
fast to impede his movements. He therefore took to venting his rage on
the surrounding trees, and, really, until that day, I had not realised
the prodigious strength of this king of beasts. He knocked and smashed
them down right and left with the greatest possible ease, although, I do
assure you, some of them were fully eight inches in diameter. All this
time the old mahowt was clinging to his back, not daring to slip off.

"The men now began to lay large rope-nooses about here and there, in the
hope that he would accidentally put a foot into one of them. But Mowla
Buksh was much too knowing to be caught in this way. Whenever he came
across one of these nooses, he took it up with his trunk and tossed it
contemptuously aside. Gradually he worked his way up to a cluster of
trees, near the tent in which our Director's wife had been seated all
the time--with what feelings I will not pretend to guess. In this
cluster he spent two hours, smashing down trees all the time, and
occasionally, by way of variety, trying to lay hold of the poor mahowt,
who was grad