er close up, which was, nevertheless,
necessary in order to make him perfectly fast; but the second tame one,
perceiving the difficulty, returned from the herd, confronted the
struggling prisoner, pushed him shoulder to shoulder, and head to head,
forcing him backwards, whilst at every step Siribeddi hauled in the
slackened rope till she brought him fairly up to the foot of the tree,
where he was made fast by the cooroowe people. A second noose was then
passed over the other hind-leg, and secured like the first, both legs
being afterwards hobbled together by ropes made from the fibre of the
kitool or jaggery palm, which, being more flexible than that of the
coco-nut, occasions less formidable ulcerations. The two decoys then
ranged themselves, as before, abreast of the prisoner on either side,
thus enabling Ranghanie to stoop under them and noose the two fore-feet
as he had already done the hind; and these ropes being made fast to a
tree in front, the capture was complete, and the tame elephants and
keepers withdrew to repeat the operation on another of the herd.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

As long as the tame ones stood beside him the poor animal remained
comparatively calm and almost passive under his distress, but the moment
they moved off, and he was left utterly alone, he made the most
surprising efforts to set himself free and rejoin his companions. He
felt the ropes with his trunk and tried to untie the numerous knots; he
drew backwards to liberate his fore-legs, then leaned forward to
extricate the hind ones, till every branch of the tall tree vibrated
with his struggles. He screamed in anguish, with his proboscis raised
high in the air, then falling on his side he laid his head to the
ground, first his cheek and then his brow, and pressed down his
doubled-in trunk as though he would force it into the earth; then
suddenly rising he balanced himself on his forehead and forelegs,
holding his hind-feet fairly off the ground. This scene of distress
continued some hours, with occasional pauses of apparent stupor, after
which the struggle was from time to time renewed convulsively, and as if
by some sudden impulse; but at last the vain strife subsided, and the
poor animal remained perfectly motionless, the image of exhaustion and
despair.

Meanwhile Ranghanie presented himself in front of the governor's stage
to claim the accustomed largesse for tying the first elephant. He was
rewarded by a shower of rupees