212 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE. 



No amount of coaxing, no amount of goading, could 

 get him to advance a single step. More than an 

 hour had been wasted in these vain endeavours, and 

 then someone suggested that a hawser should be 

 fitted round him, and that he should be dragged 

 bodily into the truck. The hawser was adjusted, 

 and fifty coolies started pulling. Step by step 

 he was dragged half-way across the gangway. A 

 shout of triumph went up from the spectators. 

 Alas for their hopes ! That very shout dashed 

 them to the ground. Apparently alarmed at the 

 noise, the elephant backed suddenly, and sent all 

 the coolies sprawling on their faces. A windlass 

 was next tried, but had to be given up, as the 

 brute, finding his strength of no avail against the 

 machine, turned himself sideways and jammed his 

 body against the entrance of the gangway, so 

 that he could not be pulled further without up- 

 setting both gangway and truck. 



The whole morning had now been wasted, and 

 not a single animal had been got into the trucks 

 provided for them. Many of the spectators had 

 gone away disappointed. Mr. Sanderson, the famous 

 hathee (elephant) king, who was in charge of the 

 operations, was in despair, when a drunken 

 mahout came forward and offered to get the ele- 

 phants aboard if he were given a bottle of arrack 

 (country spirit) as a present. Although doubting 

 the man's ability to do what he undertook, the 

 arrack was readily promised, and the mahout set 

 to work at once. He directed two tame elephants 

 to be brought up, and placed one on each side of 



