THE BLAT ELEPHANT. 195 



passed under the tree, and then let himself drop upon 

 its back. He then scrambled his way to its neck, 

 seated himself firmly there, and proceeded to hammer 

 the spike as quickly as he could into the animal's 

 brain. The elephant, of course, would not stand still 

 while this was being done: it would crash away 

 through the forest, but no branches could sweep 

 Ahman's friend from its back. Where it could go, 

 he could pass, and the elephant seldom went far be- 

 fore the spike pierced its brain, when, of course, it 

 fell down dead. 



Ahman was beginning another story descriptive of 

 a method of killing elephants by a dynamite fuse 

 on the end of a bamboo pole, when one of the boat- 

 men, a mannerless cub from Kemaman, interrupted 

 the tale by bluntly calling him a liar. Ahman was 

 so hurt that he refused to speak another word. The 

 light was soon put out, and the men pulling their 

 cotton cloths around them disposed themselves for 

 the night. I lay awake some time after they were 

 all asleep. It was an intensely dark, still night ; there 

 was the whisper of the river at the bows where 

 the boat broke its flow, and its caress at the side 

 where it ran softly by. Everything was black, 

 but not undistinguishable : I could see the black- 

 green line of the great forest standing on the river 

 bank; the river was one flat dead gleam of bottle- 

 black, and over all was the hollow black sky. At 

 intervals some night bird would utter a single 

 mournful note. 



We were all awake at early dawn, and when the 

 sun was showing over the distant mountains Ahman, 



