ANIMAL COURAGE 65 



allowed the burden to be attached by ropes without 

 observing what it was, happened to look round, 

 and instantly bolted, its fright increasing every 

 moment as the unknown object jumped and bumped 

 at its heels. After running some miles, like a dog 

 with a tin can tied to its tail, the elephant stopped, 

 and allowed itself to be turned round, and drew the 

 bullock back again without protest. Yet an elephant, 

 with a good mahout, gives, perhaps, the best instance 

 of disciplined courage courage, that is, which per- 

 sists, in the face of knowledge and disinclination 

 to be seen in the animal world. They will submit, 

 day after day, to have painful wounds dressed in 

 obedience to their keeper, and meet danger in 

 obedience to orders, though their intelligence is 

 sufficient to understand the peril, and far too great 

 for man to trick them into a belief that it is non- 

 existent. No animal will face danger more readily 

 at man's bidding. As an instance, take the following 

 incident, which recently occurred in India, and was 

 communicated to the writer. A small female elephant 

 was charged by a buffalo, in high grass, and her 

 rider, in the hurry of the moment, and perhaps 

 owing to the sudden stopping of the elephant, fired 

 an explosive shell from his rifle, not into the buffalo, 

 but into the elephant's shoulder. The wound was 

 so severe, that it had not healed a year later. Yet 



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