The Rhatamahatmcycts Tale. 97 



being either seen or heard of: the people began to hope 

 that he had died from the effect of poisoned arrows, 

 which had frequenly been shot at him from the watch- 

 houses in high trees ; and, by degrees, the terror of 

 his name had lost its power, and he ceased to be 

 thought of. 



" It was in the cool of the evening, about an hour 

 before sunset, that about twenty of the women from the 

 village were upon the grassy borders of the lake, en- 

 gaged in sorting and tying into bundles the rushes 

 which they had been gathering during the day for 

 making mats. They were on the point of starting 

 homeward with their loads, when the sudden trumpet 

 of an elephant was heai'd, and to their horror they saw 

 the well known rogue, with the unmistakable mark 

 upon his forehead, coming down in full charge upon 

 them. The ground was perfectly open ; there were no 

 trees for some hundred yards, except the jungle from 

 which he W3S advancing at a frightful speed. An in- 

 discriminate flight of course took place, and a race of 

 terror commenced. In a few seconds the monster was 

 among theii, and, seizing a young girl in his trunk, he 

 held her high in the air, and halted, as though uncer- 

 tain how to dispose of his helpless victim. The girl, 

 meanwhile, was vainly shrieking for assistance, and 

 the petrified troop of women, having gained the shelter 

 of some jungle, gazed panic-stricken upon the impend- 

 ing fate of their companion. 



" To their horror the elephant slowly lowered her in 

 his trunk till near the ground, when he gradually again 

 raised her, and, bringing her head into his mouth, a 

 report was heard like the crack of a whip it was the 

 sudden crushing of her skull. Tearing the head off by 



9 a 



