A MAD ELEPHANT. 165 



breaking them in. The aid of half-a-dozen koon- 

 kies, or female elephants specially trained to assist 

 in the dangerous operation of securing and making 

 fast their wild brethren, had been obtained, and 

 several large tuskers were also present to overawe 

 any of the captured ones that might show fight. 

 All was quiet for the night. The guests had re- 

 tired to their tents after a late dinner ; the tame 

 elephants had gone to their camp some half-a- 

 mile away ; the watchmen were dozing over their 

 watch-fires when suddenly a fierce trumpeting was 

 heard from within the kheddah, followed by a 

 squealing and shrieking as if a legion of pigs were 

 being slaughtered. The din was terrific ; the whole 

 herd seemed to have gone mad. There was a rush- 

 ing here and a rushing there, as the huge animals 

 tumbled over one another in their fright. By the 

 light of the moon and the blaze of the watch-fires, 

 now heaped with faggots, a perfect mountain of 

 flesh could be seen huddled up in one corner of 

 the kheddah elephant over elephant, a writhing 

 mass which heaved and squealed and groaned in 

 the vain efforts of those undermost to escape from 

 the vast overburden of their fellows, who came 

 tumbling on the top of them in the attempt to 

 escape from some object of terror behind. The 

 shouts of the watchers, the din of tom-toms 

 (drums), the bray of trumpets and the springing of 

 rattles added to the noise and confusion. The 

 camp was now thoroughly alarmed but no one 

 could tell what had happened. That there was 

 something very wrong within the kheddah was evi- 



