The Monarchs of the Herd 55 



turned, smarting with pain, and headed for 



the safety of the forest ; encountering on his 



way a human being, he brushed 



him aside in his hasty stride, and, 



from the moment a man had been 



killed, the fate of the animal was 



decided. 



Could he have known that he 

 was proscribed it is probable that 

 he would have welcomed relief from the oppres- 

 sion of growing helplessness ; for it is on record 

 that one winter afternoon, when the sky was 

 growing red in the west, and a great silence 

 was creeping over the land, a hunter came on 

 the fresh tracks of an elephant, and at once 

 recognized from their size that he was on the 

 trail of the outlaw. There was haste if the 

 blood-money was to be earned ere darkness 

 fell, but the trail was easy to follow, for the 

 elephant was deliberately heading towards a 

 favourite stand of his, where a pool of water 

 glistened in the shade of high rocks, and the 

 bamboo stood around in graceful groups. As 

 the hunter crept along the track, and slowly 



