18 THE KING'S MAHOUT 



quate protection against mosquitoes, of which 

 there were myriads. Choo and I made a group of 

 our own, and although he did not exactly fill the 

 roll of servant to me, he did my cooking, and kept 

 the fire burning. Beyond the outside circle of 

 fire grazed the hobbled elephants in the nearby 

 jungle. 



The king's mahout had offered me a seat behind 

 where he rode on the elephant's neck, with his 

 knees just back of its ears, but I preferred to walk, 

 and was well repaid by the little side excursions I 

 was thus able to make and the many closer inspec- 

 tions afforded of small red deer, flitting insects and 

 flying birds. For a week we continued our north- 

 easterly travel by day and our mosquito fighting 

 by night, slowly drawing closer to the section 

 where the scouts reported wild elephants in several 

 herds; for always as we moved in the day the 

 scouts kept well ahead, prospecting. Finally, one 

 night Choo made me understand that our outposts, 

 so to say, were in touch with the enemy. 



And now began the, to me, only interesting work 

 of reconnoitring the elephants; of obtaining posi- 

 tive knowledge as to the number of herds, the loca- 

 tion of each with relation to the others and to the 

 surrounding country, the number of elephants in 

 each herd— their size, and their apparent temper 

 collectively and individually. 



