The true northerner., 1878-05-03
Old Soup.

Old Soup.
In the autumn of 1876 / was living in
the interior of Bengal, and / went to
spend Christmas with my friend Maj.
DAILY. The Majors bungalow was on
the banks of the Ganges near Cawnpore.
He had lived there good many years,
being chief of the quartermaster's depart
ment at that station, and had a great
many natives, elephants, bullock-carts,
and soldiers under his command.
On the morning after my arrival, after
a cup of early tea (often taken before
daylight in India), ! sat smoking with
my friend in the veranda of his bunga-
low, looking out upon the windings of
the sacred river. And, directly, / asked
the Major about his children Ca boy and
n girD, whom l had not yet seen, and
begged to know when should see them.
"Soupramany has taken them out
fishing" said their father.
"Why, isn't Soupramany your great
war elephant?" | cried.
"Exactly so. You cannot have for
gotten Soupramany y
"Of course not. 1 was here, you
know, when he had that fight with the
elephant who went mad while loading a
transport with bags of rice down yon-
der. l saw the mad elephant when he
suddenly began to fling the rice into the
river. His 'mahout tried to stop him,
and he killed the mahout. The native
sailors ran away to hide themselves, and
the mad elephant, trumpeting, charged
into this inclosure. Old Soupramany
was here, and so were Jim and Bessy.
When he saw the mad animal, he threw
himself between him and the children.
The little ones and their nurses had just
time to get into the house when the fight
commenced"
eyes," said The Major. cold Soup
was 100 years old. He had been trained
to war, and to fight with the rhinoceros,
but he was too old to hunt then"
"And yet," said /, becoming ami
mated by the recollections of that day,
"what gallant fight it was ! Do you
remember how we all stood on this porch
and watched it, not daring to fire shot
lest we should hit Old Soupramany
Do you remember, too, his look when he
drew off, after fighting an hour and a
half, leaving his adversary dying in the
dust, and walked straight to the corral,
shaking his great ears which had been
badly torn, with his head bruised, and a
great piece broken from one of his
tusks?
eyes, indeed" said the Major. "Well,
since then, he is more devoted to my
dear little ones than ever. He takes
them out whole days, and am perfectly
content to have them under his charge.
Thr,at,o,, ah,IlraY
to the care of natives; but, with Old
Soup, know they can come to no harm. y
Beside the children, on the banks oi
the Ganges, stood Old Soup with BAN.
boo rod in his trunk, with line, hook,
bait and cork, like the children's. had
not watched him long before he had @
bite; for, as the religion of the Hindoos
forbids them to take life, the river
swarms with fishes.
The old fellow did not stir his little
eyes watched his line eagerly; he was
no novice in "the gentle craft" He
was waiting till it was time to draw in
his prize.
At the end of his line, as he drew il
up, was dangling one of those golden
tench so abundant in the Ganges.
When Soupramany perceived what @
fine fish he had caught, he uttered one
of those long, low gurgling notes of sat.
isfaction by which an elephant
expresses Joy and he waited pa.
tiently, expecting Jim to take his
prize off the hook and put on some
more bait for him. But Jim, the little
rascal, sometimes liked to plague OLD
Soup. He nodded at us, as much as tc
tfT.Anlr
now y Then he took off the fish, which
he threw into water-jar placed there
for the purpose, and went back to his
place without putting any bait on OLD
Soups hook. The intelligent animal
did not attempt to throw his line into
the water. He tried to move Jim by
low, pleading cries. It was curious tc
note what tender tones he seemed to try
to give his voice.
Seeing that Jim paid no attention tc
his calls, but sat and laughed as he
handled his own line, Old Soup went ut
to him, and with his trunk tried to turr
his head in the direction of the bait-box
AT last, when he found that all he could
do would not induce his willful frienc
to help HIM, he turned round as if strucl
by sudden thought, and, snatchinp II,
in his trunk the box that held the bait
came and laid it down at the Major
feet; then picking up his rod, he held i
out to his master.
What do you want me to do with this
Old Soup2" said the Major.
The creature lifted one great foot afte
the other, and again beRar to utter hi
plaintive cry. Out of m,soaief. I tool
Jimmys part, and, picking up the bait
box, pretended to run with it. The ele
phant was not going to be teased by me
He dipped his trunk into the Ganees
and in an instant squirted stream O
water over me with all the force and pre-
cision of ire-engine, to the immens
amusement of the children.
The Major at once made Soup a siq
stop, and, to make my peace with t6