A Change of Masters 97 



place on the neck of an elephant a driver of 

 the figure of a well-fed family coachman would 

 be impossible, not only on account of the 

 depressing weight to be carried, but because 

 agility is required to mount to the saddle by 

 aid of trunk and tusk, or to scramble up from 

 behind, by the help of the crupper ropes. At 

 the present time this mahout was with his 

 master on the look-out for a good ''shikari" 

 elephant ; one which, while docile, would be 

 courageous ; young enough to be agile, and tall 

 enough to force a way through dense forest, 

 or seas of grass, in pursuit of game. 



Thus, after he had spent some time in belitt- 

 ling the elephant, and had received from his 

 owner the incontrovertible reply that the animal 

 was "as God had made him," he rose to his 

 feet and approached the elephant without fear, 

 stroked his trunk, tickled him under the jaw, 

 offered him a banana from his pocket, and then 

 proceeded to examine him thoroughly. First 

 the eyes, which were in colour hazel, bright and 

 clear, without speck or film ; then the inside of 

 the mouth, which was pink and healthy ; next 



