The Monarchs of the Herd 47 



herd-bull then, in passing, pushed the younger 

 bull to one side : and instandy the latter turned 

 and stood facing his lord and 

 master with lowered head, 

 with tightly curled trunk and 

 shining tusks. This mutinous 

 challenge was not to be re- 

 fused, and the animals met 

 with a mighty shock, trunk to trunk, each 

 pushing with full strength in the attempt to 

 overthrow the other, or at least to make him 

 swerve or flee, so that the conqueror's tusks 

 might be imbedded in side or hind-quarters, 

 and, in favourable circumstances, the goring 

 be continued till life became extinct. 



To turn or fly would therefore probably 

 result in a painful wound, while to fall was 

 practically a sentence of death. And thus these 

 two animals 

 which had 

 lived peace- 

 ably together 

 for so many 

 years were 



