84 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



India, and are keenly sought by all the rajas and 

 maharajas for the prosperity they are supposed 

 to bring. They are guarded more carefully and 

 quartered even more sumptuously than the white 

 elephants of Siam, and the price they will bring is 

 determined almost entirely by the amount the rajas 

 can gather together. My little twenty-toed ele- 

 phant was a faultless specimen. He was about five 

 years old and stood four and a half feet high. His 

 head was perfectly shaped; his back was straight 

 and absolutely even with the top of his head. 



I was naturally disgusted to think that I had let 

 such a bargain slip out of my hands, and, when the 

 Arab returned, I blamed him for cheating me when 

 I was sick with the fever. I abused him and his 

 ancestors and gave a great show of indignation. 

 He begged me to take the money and give him the 

 elephant; I refused the money and told him to take 

 the elephant out of my sight. 



"I have put a curse on him," I said. "He will be 

 dead within twenty-four hours." 



At this he burst into tears, begging me to remove 

 the curse. He said that he was a poor man and 

 that the elephant's death would ruin him. Finally 

 we reached a compromise. He would pay me an 

 extra $500, and I would arrange transportation to 

 India for the elephant. Then, if the sale proved 

 profitable, he was to return to Singapore and pay 

 me an additional $500. He swore by Allah and the 

 Prophet that he would keep his word. So I re- 



