The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1895-03-02

my heavy riding boots. yc had no
time to secure our ponies, and the
frightened animals, as soon rs they
were released, sprang nimbly through
the thickets and disappeared; and with
them, of course, vanished our only
means of escape from the forest, even
though the elephants should pass us
by unframed.
We reached our position of safety
none too soon. could see the heavy
forest branches shaking violently, and
soon huge gray mass broke through,
stumbling along at remarkable rate
of speed, not twenty yards from us,
and screaming with vicious rage.
Its rogue elephant, sahib," said
Ramon. ''They are chasing him from
the herd"
Such, indeed. seemed to be the case,
for a hundred yards behind him came
another enormous figure, which was
headed straight for our place of refuge.
AS by lightning flash saw the hor-
rible death that menaced us. l already
felt myself falling to the ground, in a
second more to be trampled to death
under those immense feet. But at that
instant / heard Ramon call out boldly:
"Let-rah gaj," Gle DOWN. The great
beast paused. ''Let-rah, let-rah!'
again he cried; and, to my astonish-
ment, the creature obediently went
down upon its knees.
Ramon quickly descended, calling me
to follow. Where a black leads, a
white man does not lag behind, and
down l went. l did not understand
how the magical transformation had
been effected, but as turned and
caught sight of the animal, l compre-
hended it all; around the great foreleg
was chain, the end of which still
trailed on the ground. The quick eye
of the native had seen it; he knew that
the animal must have been in captivity
Mt some time, and called out the word
of command, hoping that it would be
obeyed. He was not disappointed; for
although the small eyes still cleaned
with nugly red light, and the trunk
waved mutinously in the air, the great
creature had not forgotten his former
training. We approached him eau
tiously at first, but presently Ramon
rushed fearlessly up to the brute and
petted him effusively, calling him by
every name of endearment. ''Ah, tits
thou, My Lord the Elephant! IT'S thou,
leader of the herd, wiser than the wise
man of the temple, beautiful as lotus
bud, strong as the winds of heaven!
Oh, great Lord Mowcha! Thy slave
salutes theer'
Truly enough, 1t was our old Now
cha, who, in spite of lapse of time and
change of place, had not forgotten his
old masters and the familiar word of
command.
All this had happened within few
moments. The great herd was still
crashing through the forest all around
us, trumpeting with rage and shaking
the ground in their fury. Should one
of them chance to come near enough
to see US our lives would not be worth
farthing. Mowcha seemed to under
stand the situation perfectly, for, his
anger all gone, he seized Ramon gently
with his strong trunk and set him up
on his neck, where the mahout usually
rides; he grasped me with the same
ease and placed me beside him. Then
he rose and started off at a good pace
in the direction opposite to that taken
by the rest of his fellows, and soon
their screams and thunderings had died
away in the distance.
We wondered where My Lord the
Elephant intended to convey us,
whether to his native jungles or to the
post again. Ramon tried to guide
him, but found it impossible without