s without flinching.
But at the sixth blow he stumbled forward, and fell to the ground.

The elephant master stepped into the ring.

"Arise!" he commanded.

But Mukna would not rise.

Then the elephant master made a sign to the two bulls. They came to
Mukna from each side, and prodded him in the ribs with their tusks. So
Mukna was forced to stand up.

He steadied himself and received four more blows. Then at the next blow,
which was the eleventh, he fell again.

"Arise!" the elephant master commanded.

Mukna again refused to arise. So the two bulls on the sides prodded him
again, and forced him to arise.

This time Mukna stood only two more blows; then he fell again. The place
where he was receiving the blows was now raw and bleeding. So the
elephant master gave him a chance.

"Is it enough?" he asked.

But Mukna defiantly arose to his feet, without waiting to be prodded.
And he defiantly held up his head and curled up his trunk.

"You may hit me as much as you like, but I won't give in!" he seemed to
say.

At the next blow, which was the fourteenth, Mukna again fell. He was
getting weaker and weaker, and now he could not stand more than one blow
at a time.

Seeing his weakness, the elephant master allowed him to lie there for
five minutes.

Then he asked Mukna, "Is it _now_ enough?"

Slowly, painfully, Mukna got up. He looked around with bleary, bloodshot
eyes; he thought, "Can I not yet escape?"

But a row of tusks, like a row of bayonets, faced him on all sides.

Still he would not give in. With a fierce resolution he tried to curl up
his trunk in defiance. He could not do so at once, but after an effort
he succeeded.

"I won't give in, even if I die!" he seemed to say, though he was
rocking unsteadily in growing weakness.

"Then we shall break your obstinate spirit!" the elephant master cried.

So Mukna received the next blow, which was the fifteenth. He fell. But
after a while he rose again in defiance, and received the sixteenth
blow. Then he fell in a heap. The side of his head hit the ground, and
he rolled over.

"Is it enough at last?" the elephant master asked. He waited.

Three times Mukna tried to raise his head in defiance, even as he lay on
the ground; and three times he tried to curl up his trunk. His head went
half-way up, and his trunk curled half-way. He lay on the ground just
like that for a minute or two, his whole body quivering with pain and
weakness.

Then perhaps t