JUNGLE STRATAGEMS 55 



enter the country. For my part, though I had no 

 idea how to win the Sultan to my way of thinking, 

 I decided that it would be at least as easy as getting 

 a permit to go into Lower Siam. That would have 

 required interviewing H. H. Prince Damerong, 

 brother of the King of Siam and Minister of the 

 Interior, which was no easy matter for so obscure 

 a person as I. 



Meanwhile the rumor reached us that an im- 

 mense herd of elephants was crossing from the 

 State of Pahang into Trengganu, and I made up my 

 mind to act instantly. A roaming herd of elephants 

 is so serious a menace to rice-crops that I thought 

 the Sultan might not object to having the assistance 

 of a foreigner in capturing them. In any event, the 

 chance was worth taking. 



With the German captain of a small coast- 

 steamer that called at Trengganu every three weeks, 

 I made arrangements to drop me there. He protested 

 that it was a senseless undertaking ; that I wouldn't 

 be allowed to land; that, if I was allowed to land, 

 the Sultan would refuse to see me ; that, if the Sultan 

 granted me an interview, he would surely refuse 

 to let me go inland ; and that, if he allowed me to go 

 inland, I would be killed by the natives. All the 

 way up the coast, I listened to his arguments, and, 

 when he asked me if I had changed my mind, I 

 answered, "You just put me down on the beach, 

 blow your whistle and go along." 



