Ill 
THE ELEPHANT 
91 
position about 200 yards in advance, upon a 
mucharn or platform that had been constructed for 
myself. 
Having after some trouble arranged the beaters 
in a proper line, I gave the order for an advance. 
In an instant the shouts arose, and three or four 
tom-toms added to the din. 
I was mounted upon Lord Mayo near the centre 
of the line in the open glade. No sooner had the 
noise begun, than a violent panic seized this sense¬ 
less brute, and without the slightest warning it 
rushed straight ahead for the thick forest at a pace 
that would nearly equal that of a luggage train. It 
was in vain that the mahout dug the iron spike into 
its head and alternately seized its ears by the un¬ 
sparing hook, away it ran, regardless of all punish¬ 
ment or persuasion, until it reached the jungle, and 
with a crash we entered in full career! 
Fortunately there was no howdah, only a pad 
well secured by thick ropes. To clutch these 
tightly, and to dodge the opposing branches by 
ducking the head, now swinging to the right, then 
doubling down upon the left to allow the bend¬ 
ing trees to sweep across the pad, then flinging 
oneself nearly over the flank to escape a bough 
that threatened instant extermination; all these 
gymnastics were performed and repeated in a few 
seconds only, as the panic-stricken brute ploughed its 
way, regardless of all obstructions, which threatened 
every instant to sweep us off its back. The active 
mahout of my other elephant, knowing the character 
