30 THE KING'S MAHOUT 



besides were holiday making within a few hundred 

 yards. As the herd swung ponderously along into 

 the funnel-shaped enclosure— which is made of 

 massive twelve-foot high posts firmly planted 

 every two feet and leads directly to the gate of the 

 kraal— Choo withdrew from the lead to the rear 

 all save two of the tame elephants. The herd 

 moved peacefully however until a big female, with 

 its little calf walking almost concealed under the 

 mother's stomach, endeavored to break back from 

 the side, and made quite a commotion when checked 

 by the rear guard. Although no general panic 

 resulted, the row seemed to get on the nerves of 

 the elephants, whose questioning, expectant ex- 

 pression of countenance suggested painful timor- 

 ousness. As the herd neared the kraal, getting 

 more compact all the time in the narrowing run- 

 way, the elephants appeared to sense a trap, 

 crowding together and breaking into groups 

 against the heavy posts, so that Choo had to bring 

 up several of his tuskers whose mahouts prodded 

 the obstreperous ones into harmony. It was 

 pretty much of a rough-and-tumble scramble at 

 the kraal gate, large enough to admit only one ele- 

 phant at a time. Perhaps a third of the herd fol- 

 lowed the leading tame tuskers into the kraal, but 

 the remainder got jammed, and the ensuing scene 

 of confusion and of wild endeavor to get some- 



