184 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
and the wooden spade of the seaside would have 
been most useful in the present emergency. 
The elephants alone showed no sign of trepidation ; 
they knew by scent, by the movement of the soil 
beneath their heavy tread, that water was not far 
below the dry sand, and that they could reach it 
with a few kicks of their fore-feet ; yet, like all 
domesticated animals," they wisely waited till man 
performed the service which in wild life they would 
have finished, perhaps more speedily, themselves. 
At this camp a curious incident occurred, giving 
matter for thought as to the instinct or reasoning 
power of the elephant. At midnight the camp 
was aroused by wild trumpeting and squealing of 
elephants, and immediately everyone was on the 
alert, the Burmans throwing green bamboos on to 
the fires, which exploded with loud reports as the 
moisture between the nodes was vaporized with 
the heat. Then two of the trained elephants were 
seen each fondling, with extravagant gestures of joy, 
a newly-arrived calf, evidently their own property. 
These young animals, some 5 feet in height, had 
been left weeks before about thirty miles away, to 
be handled and made fit for light work; but how 
they had ascertained where the camp was, and how 
found their way through the pathless forest, is a 
matter that still requires explanation. Early next 
morning the men in whose charge these calves had 
been left arrived, without knowing that the animals 
were before them. They related how the calves had 
run loose in the forest, how they had tracked them 
for two days, and, finding that the tracks had joined 
those of a wild herd, had given up the pursuit; then, 
