cing to within a few feet of the master-mahout,
she stood facing him, teetering her whole body from side to side,
swinging her chain as she rolled.

Horace flashed away and ran in among the massed elephants and mahouts.
Coming back to Skag, he said breathlessly:

"A mahout says the other one went before we came! That means, if Nut
Kut comes--there'll be no one to manage him. You remember, Skag Sahib,
I told you about the 'mother-thing'--if anyone starts a fight, she
breaks it up with her chain; better than any two or three fighting
males. Two tuskers just wake Nut Kut up!"

Then he stood staring at the female with her chain--getting red in the
face as he spoke:

"Oh, I say! She doesn't want to be loaded; and she knows! Why, they
know she knows! . . . Master-mahout!" he called in brave tones that
trembled, "I am Dickson Sahib's son--of the grain-foods department--"

"We know you, Sahib, salaam!" interrupted the master-mahout, with a
smile.

"Is it not the unwritten-law that the great 'mother-thing' shall be
obeyed?" the boy quavered.

"It is the unwritten-law, Sahib; and we will not impose our will on
her. It is this, there is no sign of what she means; the masters are
all quiet to-day--there is no warning of _tamasha_."

The master-mahout spoke with grave consideration; but just as he
finished, the "mother-thing" wheeled into place and went down to take
her load.

"Cheer up, son, I guess it's all right," comforted Skag.

"It's all right--if Nut Kut doesn't come," said the boy, whimsically.

"So 'tamasha' sometimes means trouble?" queried Skag, remembering the
tamer definition he had learned.

"It means anything anybody considers entertaining!" answered Horace.
"By preference--an elephant fight! Remember, Government doesn't allow
'em; but sometimes they just happen anyway."

Then an elephant failed to answer. Several mahouts left their places
and went to one spot; and Skag saw the one who had been called. He was
sitting low against the ground, slowly rocking his head from side to
side. A mahout was examining his ears--folding them back and feeling
of them--laying his cheek against the inside surface.

"Is he sick?" Skag asked.

But the boy's eyes were wide upon the broad avenue before them, where
the loaded elephants went marching away. Then he burst out, in choking
excitement:

"Look, Skag Sahib! See that loaded elephant coming back from the line?
I think you are going to see one of the