128 The Life of an Elephant 



an elephant would try to break away, but was 

 held by the tightening ropes ; or another would 

 throw itself on the ground, blocking the way 

 and causing a halt along the line. But these 

 delays were not serious ; the elephants continued 

 their journey followed by the young calves whose 

 mothers had been captured and, not long after 

 sundown, were all secured in the camp. 



It was rather a pitiable scene that was dis- 

 closed as the silence of a moonlight night fell 

 on the weary camp. The prisoners struggling 

 at their fetters, often with blood streaming from 



the wounds where the 

 ropes bit into the flesh ; 

 the young calves wander- 

 ing around seeking for 

 protection and for nourish- 

 ment which was denied 

 them ; and in the out- 

 skirts of the camp where 

 the shadows were densest, the restless form 

 of the herd-bull who had followed the trail 

 of his captured harem, yet, having arrived, 

 knew not how to assist them, nor to what use 



