The Adventures of Kathlyn

"Strange thing about a gunshot," said Bruce. "They may never have

heard one before; but instinct tells them quickly of the menace. Years

ago at home, when I used to fish for bass, during the closed season I'd

see thousands of duck and geese and deer. Yet a single gunshot when

the season opened and you never could get within a mile of them."

"That is true. I have fished and hunted with father."

"Surely! I keep forgetting that it's ten to one you know more about

game than I do."

Silence fell upon them again. On, on, without pausing. Bruce was

getting sleepy himself, so he began munching biscuits. Lighter and

lighter grew the east; the moon dimmed, and by and by everything grew

gray and the chill in the air seemed sharpest yet.

They were both awake.

Sunup they stopped by a stream. Bruce dismounted without having the

elephant kneel and went to the water to fill his canteen. The hunter

in him became interested in the tracks along the banks. A tiger, a

leopard, some apes, and a herd of antelopes had been down to drink

during the night. Even as he looked a huge gray ape came bounding out,

head-on toward Rajah, who despised these foolish beasts. Perhaps the

old elephant missed Ali, perhaps he was still somewhat upset by his

failure to join his wild brothers the night before; at any rate,

without warning, he set off with that shuffling gait which sometimes

carried him as swiftly as a horse. An elephant never trots nor really

runs according to our conception of the terms; he shuffles, scarcely

lifting his feet off the ground.

The mahout yelled and belabored the elephant on the skull. Rajah did

not mind this beating at all. Whatever his idea was, he evidently

proposed to see it fulfilled.

Cunningly he dashed under some branches, sweeping the mahout off his

neck. The branches, with a crash as of musketry, struck the howdah,

but it held, thanks to the stoutness of the belly bands and the care

with which they had been adjusted round the huge barrel.

Bruce stood up, appalled. For a time he was incapable of movement.

Short as the time was, it was enough to give Rajah such headway as he

needed. He disappeared from sight. Bruce saw the futility of shooting

at the beast. The only thing he could do was to mount up beside

Ramabai and Pundita and give chase; and this he did in short order,

dragging up the bruised and shaken mahout with him. The pursuing

elephant, with this extra handicap, never brought Rajah into sight.

But the trail was clear, and they followed.

Surely that poor girl was marked for misfortune. In all the six years

Bruce had possessed Rajah he had never exhibited anything but docility.

The elephant was not running amuck, though he might eventually work

himself into that blind ungovernable rage. Off like that, without the

slightest warning! If Kathlyn could only keep him clear of the trees,

for the old rogue would do his best to scrape off the irksome howdah.