CHAPTER XI 



FROM AN ELEPHANT KHEDDER TO A 

 CROCODILE TANK 



Elephant 

 41 1 will remember what I was. I am sick of rope and chain. 



I will remember my old strength and all my forest affairs. 

 I will not sell my back to man for a bundle of sugar-cane : 



I will go out to my own kind, and the wood-folk in their lairs. 



11 1 will go out until the day, until the morning break- 

 Out to the wind's untainted kiss, the water's clean caress 

 I will forget my ankle-ring and snap my picket-stake, 

 I will revisit my lost loves, and playmates masterless ! " 



RUDYARD KIPLING. 



When ye say to Tabaqui, " My Brother ! " when ye call the 



hyena to meat, 

 Ye may cry the full truce with Jacala the belly that runs on 



four feet. 



RUDYARD KIPLING. 



I HAD always been anxious to see an elephant 

 khedder (an enclosure where the great game 

 is entrapped), and when we were in Madras some 

 of our party were able to avail themselves of an 

 opportunity which afforded itself. Out in India one 

 has plenty of riding upon elephants at receptions into 

 native States, on shoots arranged by the Rajahs, or 

 on tours through the streets of native cities ; and I 

 often visited the battery elephants in their high, open 



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