XI 
THE WHITE TRAIL 
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bear on the situation, and, recovering his senses 
with some difficulty, he breathlessly told me what 
had occurred. It appears that when he had flung 
down his sack of rice, the charging elephant, 
evidently mistaking it for a human being, had 
immediately turned his attention to the load and 
vented his pent up anger on the unoffending 
object. 
I at once made Baramaesi lead me to the spot 
where the incident had occurred, and on arrival 
there, we discovered the grass all trampled flat 
and rice strewn in every direction, but not a 
vestige of a trace of the sack. It was clear that 
when wreaking vengeance on the load, he had 
transfixed it with one of his tusks and had dashed 
off without being able to rid himself of the 
incumbrance. For half a mile on his tracks, we 
discovered a continuous white trail of rice, when 
it abruptly ceased, and though we followed his 
spoor for miles we never came up with him and 
saw no further trace of the empty sack. 
Afterwards, when talking over the incidents of 
the day, my men indulged in roars of hearty 
laughter over the ridiculous spectacle that Baramaesi 
had presented when leaping wild-eyed through 
the grass, and Baramaesi had received such a 
fright on this occasion that he never again joined 
one of my safaris. Discussing the curious incident 
