EXD OF THE ANIMALLAI CAMPAIGN. 209 



My little ruse set the men to tliinking. Their wives soon found 

 out the situation, and with lame Vera to back them, came across 

 the I'iver to where the men squatted sullenly around the door of 

 my hut, and attacked them with a perfect volley of abuse for their 

 laziness and stupidity in thi'owing away their claims upon the sahib's 

 rupees. 



The combined pressure was more than the men could stand, 

 and Doraj'sawmy soon announced their willingness to go. By the 

 time they had their packs ready I had passed the turning-point in 

 my fever, but felt miserably ill Knowing, however, that if I 

 showed how I felt, the men would refuse to go a step, and that I 

 must get to that elephant or lose it, I took a stick to lean upon, and 

 started on ahead at a snail's pace, with my brain throbbing and 

 jumping at every step. I determined to walk as far as possible, 

 and if I gave out entirely, would be carried the rest of the way. 

 The day was clear and fine, I bathed my head in every stream we 

 crossed, rested about twenty times, and finally climbed up the 

 steep hill-side to the scene of the wreck. 



By that time I felt much better, and without the loss of a 

 moment, we got out our knives and went to work. We had a few 

 hours of daylight left, and all worked like beavers. I had Channa 

 and two others cut off the head and skin it carefully, while the 

 rest of us — we were thea seven in all — skinned the feet and cleaned 

 the inside of the entire skin, removing from it a quantity of adher- 

 ent flesh. Half an hour before sunset we had the entire skin ready 

 for the presei-vatives. At that time it weighed not less than nine 

 hundred pounds (I believe eleven hundred would be nearer the 

 mark !), being in many places an inch and a quarter in thickness. 



With a brush, I washed the skin over on both sides with a strong 

 solution of arsenical soap and water, and then sprinkled salt over 

 it in liberal quantities and rubbed it in vigorously with a flat stone. 

 Both sides were treated in this way, after which we folded it up 

 compactly and let it lie to absorb the preservatives. At sunset the 

 skin was safe. 



Then we pitched the little tent, slung my hammock inside, the 

 men made a lair for themselves under a clump of bamboos close 

 by, we ate our suppers and turned in. 



During the night we heard elephants trumpeting in the valley 



below us, reminding me of the distant band-music one often hears 



in a city on summer evenings. This led me to wonder how many 



elephants, tigers, bears, deer, and wild boars were at that moment 



14 



