SHIPPING WILD ANIMALS 95 
made him kneel and then urged him forward. At 
last we got him into the passage. It was a tight fit. 
His sides scraped the walls. I gasped at the thought 
of what would happen if he suddenly became afraid. 
He would try to stand up, of course, and then 
wedged in, he would begin to kick and lunge his 
way out; and the other four, who were close be- 
hind him, would do the same. “And then, good- 
by, steamship,” I said to myself. Slowly we made 
our way forward, with the five elephants hobbling 
along on their knees. I stayed close to the head of 
the first, talking to him and petting him. Finally 
we came to the end of the passage, and I drew the 
first deep breath in fifteen minutes. I took the ven- 
ture simply as a matter of course, and I didn’t say 
anything that gave the captain an idea of what my 
emotions had been in that passage; but Ali looked 
at me and I looked at Ali, and there was no need of 
words. 
I washed and went to the captain’s cabin for 
breakfast, while the men secured the elephants in 
their quarters, 
The captain said, “Mayer, that was the quickest 
and slickest thing I’ve ever seen, but what am I go- 
ing to do with those animals at Madras?” 
I knew that there were no docks at Madras and 
that all freight was unloaded into lighters, but I 
answered, “My men will attend to them.” 
When the ship reached Madras, the attendants 
opened the doors and simply backed the elephants 
