The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-03-27

river, Mount Ophir, and the great ocean
cleaning on the horizon. Homesickness
oyercams me, and the fixed idea that |
would take flight ruled my thoughts. But
I must take Aor with me, and tho Door fell
low was hardly able to raise himself to kiss
my forehead as / leaned over him.
"One night, exhausted with watching, I
slept heavily for several hours. When I
awoke Aor was not or his couch, Il |
called him in vain. Distracted with anxiety,
/ rushed into the garden and looked for him
by the lake. Ny sense Of smell showed me
that lie was not there, and had not been
th-re recently. | opened the gates of the
Enclosure and went out. Then | found that
my friend was near, and [ sought him i'll q
grove of tamarinds which shaded the hill.
As / approached I heard a plaintive cry,
and I rushed into the copso and found Aor
tied t. a tree and surrounded by ~rascals
READY to strike him. | threw them all back
and tramplsd than under foot without
marcy. / broke Aor's bonds. | took him
carefully and helped him to mount on my
nect-, md, with the rapid and silent motion
OF tte elephant in fight, | plunged into the
forest.
"At that time the part of India in which
. we were was full of the %strangest contrast.
Luxurious civilization had unexplored
deserts at its very door. 1t took ms but a
short time to reach the Wild solitudes of
the mountains, and when | lay down weary
OH the bank of a water course-straighter
and more rapid than the lrawady-we were
already thirty leagues away from the Bur
man city.
Where are we going?' asked Aor. All!
see 1T IN your look, you are returning to
our mountalns. You think We are already
there, and YOU ars mistaken. We are very
far away. We shall never be able to find
our way back without being discovered and
captured. And even should we l,e able to
evade pursuit, VIZ should not b sbletogofar
before. i'll ax ] am. / should de; and then
how could you make your way to that dis
tant point without ma to guide you?
Leave me here. he enemies are all mine.
And go you back TO Paghan, whore nobody
will dare to threaten you
"But | made HIM understand that | would
neither leave him nor go back to the Bur
MANS; that 1t he died, | should die, too:
that with patience and courage we should
vet find ourselves happy Mt home.
He yielded to my wish, and after having
rested, We resumed our Quincy. After SOW
eral days Of travelling we both legained
health, strength and hope. Ths free air of
solitude, the austere fragrance of the for
este, the wholesome warmth of the rocks,
healed us better than all the ~softnass of
luxury and remedies of the doctors. And
yet Aor sometimes shrank from the task |
hnd laid upon him. To lead away 4 sacred
elephant was to fall under the most crue!
~torturss in case of failure. He told ms his
feara on a flute which he had made of resds,
and on which he played better than ever.
| had attained an exercise of thought III
most equal to that OF man. | showed what
it Was best for us to do by covering mysell
with black mud which lay ~abundsntly al
the bottom of the river bed. Struck with
my expedient, he gathered the juices
of several plants whose properties
he knew. With these he made {
dye. which renders me, except in thu
matter of size, absolutely like the common
n1n~fn,ta T nt1rya1 Esrn chat tnic WpS mo
enough. but that to make me a%bsolutel,
unacceptable he must saw off my tusks
He would not consent to this. l hat
reached my sixth dsntition, and he feares