ELEPHANTS 285 



gather. Then he would wander away, return after an 

 interval, and proceed as before. In the end a reward 

 would be offered by the Government for his destruction. 

 Sportsmen would proceed in search of him, and he 

 would be either frightened away or shot 



With regard to one of these elephants I will relate 

 a story. It is a story which, if at all dramatically told, 

 I have found always intensely interests children. The 

 incidents occurred in a part of the forest further to the 

 east, and, as they were told me by the magistrate in 

 whose district that part of the forest lay, I think they 

 may be accepted as correct. About half-way along the 

 road that led through the forest there stood a hut ; it 

 was built for the accommodation of the dak-runners 

 who carried the mails and the police who patrolled 

 the road ; and, as a security against the wild beasts, 

 it stood, not on the ground, but on a platform among 

 the trees. The platform, I may mention, rested on 

 four strong horizontal poles, fastened at some height 

 above the ground to the trunks of four trees that 

 happened to grow near together. 



It was night ; the four men not on duty were in the 

 hut. They had cooked their dinner, and, seated on 

 the floor, were about to eat it. The dinner, as is 

 usual among men of their class, consisted chiefly of 

 " chapatties," that is large, round, flat cakes of un- 

 leavened bread. The " chapatties," freshly baked, were 

 piled before them ; a large earthen jar of water stood 

 in a corner. Suddenly there fell on their ears a 

 distant sound of crashing among the trees. A solitary 

 elephant had of late been haunting the forest ; appre- 



