im a
headache or not, I cannot tell. The only certain effect it had was to
turn the animal aside, and cause it to rush off in the direction of the
main camp, closely followed by Isri Pershad and Raj Mungul. Chand
Moorut was held back in reserve. Happily Raj Mungul managed to outstrip
and turn the runaway, and as Mowla Buksh came back, Chand Moorut got
another chance at him. Need I say that he took advantage of it?
Charging in like a live locomotive, he sent the mad creature flying--as
if it had been a mere kitten--head over heels into a small hollow!"

"Well done! Capital!" shouted Junkie, at this point unable to restrain
himself, as, with glittering eyes, he glanced round the circle of
listeners.

A laugh at his enthusiasm seemed to Junkie to endorse his sentiment, so
he turned to Jackman and earnestly bade him to "go on."

"There is not much to go on with now, my boy," continued the narrator;
"for Mowla Buksh being down, the fighting elephants took good care to
punish him well before they let him up again. But as the encounter had
aroused the combative propensities of Chand Moorut, it was thought wise
to remove him from the scene before he became too excited. This being
managed by his mahowt, the punishing of the rebel was left to Isri
Pershad and Raj Mungul, who did their work thoroughly. No sooner did
the culprit scramble out of the hollow than Isri Pershad knocked him
back into it, and pummelled him heartily with trunk and legs. Again
Mowla Buksh rose, and this time Raj Mungul gave him a tap on the
forehead with his own ponderous head, which sent him into a bed of giant
rushes, over the top of which his little tail was seen to wriggle
viciously as he disappeared with a crash.

"There he would probably have been content to lie still for a time, but
his opponents had other views in regard to him. They went at him
together, and so cuffed, kicked, bumped and pummelled him, that in about
five minutes he was reduced to a pitiable state of humiliation. As Quin
truly remarked at the time, his own mother would have failed to
recognise him.

"Just at this point, to my surprise, the old mahowt came forward, with
tears in his eyes, and begged that his elephant might be spared! It had
been punished quite sufficiently, he thought. I was much impressed with
this display of a tender, forgiving spirit towards a brute that had done
its very best to take his own life. But no one sympathised with him at
the moment,