g tusker. He was very
cunning, and ran about, dodging hither and thither, taking advantage of
every tree and bush and inequality, while the mahowts failed again and
again to noose him. I made my mahowt drive our animal so as to turn him
back. We had no appliances to capture, as I was there only to look on
and admire. At last a good throw noosed him, but he slipped through,
all except one hind leg. On this the noose luckily held, and in a few
minutes we had him secure. Of course, in driving our prisoners to camp,
the tame elephants were used to guide them, stir them up, push them on,
and restrain or punish them, as the case might require. This was easy
with the smaller females and young ones, but it was a very different
matter with big males, especially with rogues, as we found out before
the close of that day.

"We were getting pretty well used up towards the afternoon, and had sent
ten full-grown elephants and three calves into camp, when we received
news that the rogue, which had been so long a terror to the district,
was in the neighbouring valley. So we resolved to go for him. Of
course there was no possibility of noosing such a monster. The ordinary
elephants could never have been brought to face him. Our only hope
therefore lay in our gladiators; and our plan was to make them knock him
down repeatedly, until, at length, he should be tired out.

"I need not waste time with details. It is sufficient to say that,
after about an hour's search, we came upon the rogue in a dense part of
the jungle. He was, as I have said, unusually big, as well as fierce.
But our hero, Chand Moorut, had never yet met his match, so we resolved
to risk an encounter. There was the dry bed of a river, which the rogue
would have to cross when driven down the valley by the gun-men. Here
our gladiator was placed, partially concealed and ready to meet the
rogue when he should appear. Fifty yards back the other fighting
elephants were placed in support, and behind these were drawn up the
rest of the khedda in three lines. Then the spectators, many of whom
were ladies, were placed on a ledge of rock about forty feet above the
river-bed, which commanded a good view of the proposed field of battle.

"Up to this time perfect silence had been maintained in our ranks. My
elephant was stationed near the centre of the line, from which point I
could see Chand Moorut standing calmly near the river-bed, with what I
could almost fancy wa