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"But you cannot ride without the pad, Sahib, or the driving-hook, and there are other things you leave behind." "At least command him to drop the dead body before he mangles it, so that we may burn it with decent ceremony," was the last request of the head man.
A vigorous application of the driving-hook by the mahout, who was a powerful man, at length changed the scene, and the elephant at once desisted from his attack upon the dead tiger, and rushed madly upon one side, where he stood nervously looking at the enemy as though he expected it would show signs of life.
Presently a mahout about two yards upon my right beckoned to me, and pointed downward with his driving-hook. I immediately backed my elephant out of the crowd, and took up a position alongside his animal.
My female elephant Demoiselle, upon hearing the sound, trembled beneath me with intense excitement, while the other female would have bolted had she not been sharply reminded by the heavy driving-hook. Several shots were now fired in succession, and after vainly endeavouring to discover the whereabouts of the tiger, I sent Demoiselle to obtain the news while we kept guard over the ravine.
In vain the man remonstrated, and explained that such a pace would injure the elephant on a journey; threats prevailed, and the beast was soon swinging along at full trot, forced on by the sharp driving-hook, with the delighted Perkes striding across its neck, riding, an imaginary race. On the following day the elephant-driver appeared at the front door, but without the elephant.
The sound of the beaters when yelling and shouting in driving jungle was quite sufficient to start this animal off in a senseless panic, not always for a short distance, as on one occasion it ran at full speed for upwards of a mile through a dense forest, in spite of the driving-hook of the mahout, which had been applied with a maximum severity.
As we advanced, the elephant being severely punished by the driving-hook and scolded by the mahout, the bear suddenly uprose from the high grass, and standing upon its hind legs, it faced us at about 40 yards' distance, affording a magnificent chance for a deadly shot.
If an elephant has a very slight sore back, it will quickly point out the tender part by blowing dust with its trunk upon the spot which it cannot reach. Should the mahout have seriously punished the crown with the cruel driving-hook, the elephant applies dust at the earliest opportunity. I have seen them, when in a tank, plaster up a bullet-wound with mud taken from the bottom.
I believe thoroughly that the well-known tones of my voice restored his confidence far more than the torture of the driving-hook, and after a race of about 150 yards he stopped. "Now turn him round, give him the point sharp, and drive him straight for the bear." The mahout obeyed the order, and we soon approached the spot, where the roars and howls still continued.
This would have quickly ended in a war-dance upon the prostrate body, that would have crushed it and destroyed the skin, had not the mahout, with the iron driving-hook, bestowed some warning taps upon the crown of Moota Gutche's head that recalled him to a calmer frame of mind.
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