54 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



nearly equal that of a luggage train. It was in vain that the 

 mahout dug the iron spike into its head and alternately seized its 

 cars by the unsparing hook, away it ran, regardless of all punishment 

 or persuasion, until it reached the jungle, and with a crash we 

 entered in full career ! 



Fortunately there was no howdah, only a pad well secured by 

 thick ropes. To clutch these tightly, and to dodge the opposing 

 branches by ducking the head, now swinging to the right, then 

 doubling down upon the left to allow the bending trees to sweep 

 across the pad, then flinging oneself nearly over the flank to escape 

 a bough that threatened instant extermination ; all these gymnastics 

 were performed and repeated in a few seconds only, as the panic- 

 stricken brute ploughed its way, regardless of all obstructions, 

 which threatened every instant to sweep us off its back. The 

 active mahout of my other elephant, knowing the character of Lord 

 Mayo, had luckily accompanied us with a spear, and although at 

 the time I was unaware of his presence, he was exerting himself to 

 the utmost in a vain endeavour to overtake our runaway elephant. 

 At first I imagined that the great pace would soon be slackened, 

 and that a couple of hundred yards would exhaust the animal's 

 wind, especially as the ground was slightly rising. Instead of this, 

 it was going like a steam-engine, and if there had been the usual 

 amount of thorny creepers we should have been torn to pieces. 



" Keep him straight for the hill," I shouted, as I saw we were 

 approaching an inclination. "Don't let him turn to right or left, 

 keep his head straight for the steep ground ;" and the mahout, 

 who had been yelling for assistance, and had lost both his turban 

 and skull-cap, did all that he could by tunnelling into the brute's 

 head with his formidable hook to direct it straight up the hill. I 

 never knew an elephant go at such a pace over rocky ground. 

 Young trees were smashed down, some branches torn, others bent 

 forward, which swung backwards with dangerous force, and yet on 

 we tore without a sign of diminishing speed. How I longed for 

 an anchor to have brought up our runaway ship head to wind ! 

 We had the coupling chains upon the pad, and my interpreter, 

 Modar Bux, at length succeeded in releasing these, and in throwing 

 them down for any person following to make use of. After a run 

 of quite half a mile, we fortunately arrived at a really steep portion 

 of the hill, where the rocks were sufficiently large to present a 

 difficulty to any runaway. The mahout who had been following 

 our course, breathless and with bleeding foot, here overtook us. 

 Placing himself in advance of the elephant, who seem determined 

 to continue its flight among the rocks, he dug the spear deep into 



