SHIPPING WILD ANIMALS 95 



made him kneel and then urged him forward. At 

 last we got him into the passage. It was a tight fit. 

 His sides scraped the walls. I gasped at the thought 

 of what would happen if he suddenly became afraid. 

 He would try to stand up, of course, and then 

 wedged in, he would begin to kick and lunge his 

 way out; and the other four, who were close be- 

 hind him, would do the same. "And then, good- 

 by, steamship," I said to myself. Slowly we made 

 our way forward, with the five elephants hobbling 

 along on their knees. I stayed close to the head of 

 the first, talking to him and petting him. Finally 

 we came to the end of the passage, and I drew the 

 first deep breath in fifteen minutes. I took the ven- 

 ture simply as a matter of course, and I didn't say 

 anything that gave the captain an idea of what my 

 emotions had been in that passage ; but Ali looked 

 at me and I looked at Ali, and there was no need of 

 words. 



I washed and went to the captain's cabin for 

 breakfast, while the men secured the elephants in 

 their quarters. 



The captain said, "Mayer, that was the quickest 

 and slickest thing I've ever seen, but what am I go- 

 ing to do with those animals at Madras ?" 



I knew that there were no docks at Madras and 

 that all freight was unloaded into lighters, but I 

 answered, "My men will attend to them." 



When the ship reached Madras, the attendants 

 opened the doors and simply backed the elephants 



