ndian sun the red face of the
Westerner looks even redder.

There are certain rules by which men hunt in India. You never
shoot an animal weaker than yourself, and if you want to shoot a
tiger or a leopard, you give it a warning. If you do not do so,
you generally pay for it. After the British official appeared, I
was allowed to take him on my elephant and go out in the open to
show him that Kari was fit for hunting. He fired a number of
shots and killed several birds. Kari, who had never heard a shot
before, and whom everyone expected to be frightened, did not pay
the slightest attention to all the clamor of flying bullets. He
knew at heart he was the master of the jungle, and hence nothing
could surprise him. It is said in India that the mark of a
gentleman is that he is never surprised. That shows that Kari's
ancestors were undoubtedly very gentle elephants.

After killing some more birds, the magistrate became quite
convinced that Kari would do for the hunt, so one morning about
four o'clock we started out. I sat almost on the neck of my
elephant playing my flute, and the magistrate sat in the _howdah_
which had been especially prepared for him, since he was not
accustomed to riding elephants any other way. We crossed the
river and went far into the jungle. Beaters had gone ahead in
large groups to stir up the jungle from all directions. It was
very difficult to go through the jungle with the _howdah_ on the
elephant's back, and we had to edge our way along between
branches and trees.

After riding for at least two hours, we came to an open space and
it was agreed that the beaters should drive all the animals to
this clearing. This morning the sunrise was full of noise and
without any of the soft and delicate silences which usually mark
day-break in the jungle. I felt quite out of humor and apparently
Kari was bored to death. He kept on pulling at one twig after
another with his trunk, nibbling and wasting everything. Our
passenger did not know any language but English, and as I knew
nothing of English at that time, we spoke very little and only by
signs.

The first animals to come before us were a herd of antelopes
which dashed towards us like burnt gold flashing through emerald
water. After they had passed, a lull fell on the scene, which was
soon broken by the grunt and snort of a rhinoceros. He rushed
forward in a straight line, as usual, breaking and tearing
everything. Kari averted his gaze because ele