Processional Duties 



163 



for his work. He would first have fretted at the 

 absence of his companion, and then have vented 

 his annoyance on his successor. A record of 

 many years' successful care of Maula Bux went 

 with Kareem ; the presence of the mahout was 

 equivalent to the sale of goodwill with the 

 business. But neither man nor beast appreci- 

 ated the change. To stand day by day under 

 the shelter of a roof, on a cemented floor, to 

 be fed monotonously with fodder, stale or even 

 contaminated on its way to the stables ; to be 

 stuffed with artificial food prepared by man ; 

 and for all exercise, to walk sedately along the 

 level roads was not to the tastes of the beast ; 

 while the man regretted, as all sportsmen would, 

 the wild jungle, the rugged hills, the hardships 

 of the summer heats, and perhaps most of 

 all, the silent and 

 mysterious nights. In 

 enforced retirement, 

 the thoughts of both 

 often went back to the 

 forests and recalled 



events, 

 L 2 



each with 



