28 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
everything for a rider he is fond of, and nothing for 
one he dislikes. His confidence in carrying out 
orders that must be intensely distasteful to his 
natural instincts is based on his trust in his rider, 
and his gratitude for kindly words or actions is 
almost pathetic. He will suffer severe surgical opera- 
tions with groans, and even tears, but will carefully 
refrain from injuring the operators, whose lives are 
at his mercy. But the momentum of a walking 
elephant is not to be stayed instantaneously, and 
often the supreme moment passes before the rifle can 
be steadied ; while when he is standing there is a 
constant movement of the body in brushing flies 
from the sensitive skin, or in shifting the weight 
from foot to foot, so that often one delays in firing 
a shot for fear that the bullet will pass harmlessly 
away. The large majority of Indian elephants have 
been born in the wild state, and the wild-elephant is 
never still save during a moment of intense listening 
to detect danger, so much so that when this occurs 
the sportsman may know that his presence is sus- 
pected. Such inbred habits cannot be overcome 
save in generations of elephants bred in confine- 
ment, and at that stage we shall probably never 
arrive. Meanwhile in dense jungle we can hardly 
spare their services either when at work or at play, 
and thus to the Forest Officer they become, not only 
necessities in his outfit, but friends whose capabilities 
are known and trusted. 
There are, of course, some exceptional men whose 
quickness in shooting obviates to a great extent 
the disadvantages of not standing on firm ground. 
With a shot-gun such instances are, in fact, not un- 
