TIGERLAND 



with air, and thus prolong the poor brute's life, and con- 

 sequently its mental and bodily torture. 



In the meantime, G had returned with the cart- 

 ridges, having made the double journey about five miles 

 in less than half an hour, but alas ! had arrived just five 

 minutes too late. Nevertheless, an effort had been made 



to use the bullets, and strangely enough, by K , who 



now ignoring his own feelings in his anxiety to end the 

 animal's misery had gone out on the branches, and, 

 at the risk of being himself engulfed, tried, by boring 

 through the bog, to make a passage down to the head. 



But he soon found that this was as impossible as digging 

 a well in sand, and after a while had to abandon the 

 attempt, when the mahout before mentioned, who had 

 already tried to convince him of the hopelessness of his 

 efforts and the risk attending on them, now suggested 

 another plan, which, though it sounded most inhuman, 

 was, in fact, the most humane. 



"It is impossible to shoot the beast now, sahib," he 

 urged, " and if left to itself it may live for many hours 

 yet ; it would be better, then, to try and bury its trunk 

 beneath the mud, when no longer able to draw breath 

 it must quickly die." 



We could not but admit that he was right, still to kill 

 an animal deliberately by suffocation seemed too cruel, 

 and yet we could not leave it to linger on in agony, for as 

 the old man had implied so long as its trunk remained 

 above the surface, it might live for many hours, possibly 

 throughout the night. 



It was obviously necessary, therefore, that, however 

 repugnant it might be to our feelings, the old mahout's 

 proposition should be carried out at once. Having come 

 to this decision, the Forest Officer who as head of the 

 department was responsible to Government for the loss 

 reluctantly gave his consent. 



" Very well, Pir Bux," he said, striving hard to control 

 his emotion. "Do as you suggest, but for Heaven's 

 sake let it be done quickly, and under your own super- 

 vision," then turning away to conceal the tears that I 

 could see stealing down his cheek, he mounted his elephant 

 and hurried from the scene. 

 140 



