command
you for the third and last time to lift that log!"

But for the third time Mukna refused to obey.

"Then you shall hear about this!" the keeper said, just as if he were
talking to a disobedient workman.

The keeper did not say anything more. But two of the nearest bull
elephants stepped up to Mukna, one on each side of him--just like a
couple of policemen arresting a criminal. Then a third bull came up in
front of Mukna, and stood with his back to him, so that all three police
elephants faced the same way as Mukna--as you see in the picture on page
45.

Then at the same time the three police elephants stepped _backward_, so
that Mukna also was forced to step backward. Step by step the three
police elephants went backward till Mukna's hind legs came against the
trunk of a tree. There Mukna was held for a moment, so that he could not
wriggle away. For the elephant in front prevented him from moving
forward, and the tree prevented him from moving backward; and the two
elephants on the sides prevented him from moving sideways.

Then the keeper stepped to the tree and fastened one of Mukna's hind
legs to the tree with a chain--so that he could not run away. The three
police elephants then went back to their work.

Now I must tell you that in a herd in the jungle a bad elephant is
punished at once by the president. But it is slightly different among
elephants in the service of men, because there they have no elephant
president, but a man president, who might be away at that time. That man
is called the elephant master.

That is just what happened when Mukna was disobedient. The elephant
master happened to have gone to the palace on a visit. So Mukna's keeper
called a messenger and sent him to the palace to report Mukna's
disobedience. The messenger had to ride on another elephant to go that
distance.

Mukna saw that elephant going toward the palace with the messenger.
Mukna knew why! It was to fetch the elephant master, who would punish
him! Even a dog that has been naughty will cringe and whine at the sight
of a whip, because it knows that its punishment is coming.

[Illustration: Policemen Elephants Arresting a Criminal Elephant]

But Mukna did not cringe and whine. Instead he became defiant--just like
a very bad boy. He held up his head and curled his trunk tight in a
spiral in front of his chest. In an elephant that is a sign that he is
defiant or determined, just like a man who folds his arms tight a