The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-02-08

| uOuL, put alter that brute QnCannA
 disappearance he had attached himself
 to me, and proved to be very handy
 fellow. We were mounted on hardy lit
 tie ponies, and the first day made abou
 fifty miles, spending the night at tht
 house of one of the forest rangers, whC
 are stationed by the government as 2
 guard along the edges of large and i'm
 portant forests. The next day wt
 plunged into the forest itself. Toward
 midday we were startled by hearing 6
 fearful, thunderous roaring, as of some
 monster in it's death agony. At that
 distance I did not recognize 1t as the
 voice of any wild anlmal was ac'
 quainted with, and turned to Ramon
 for an explanation. His dark skin was
 bleached to ashen gray.
 'It's a herd of elephants!' he ex-
 claimed, land they are sounding their
 battle cry. If they come this way il
 means certain death. We cannot es-
 cape them"
 It certainly seemed as though they
 were headed in our direction, for the
 noise grew louder, and we could feel
 the ground trembling beneath us at the
 trampling of many feet.
 | F OllOW lIlS, StllD, CLl6u TNdillO1ll dS
 he threw himself from his horse and
 hastened to one of the larger trees, which he began to ascend with the ut
 most rapidity. I did the same, my pro-
 gress being hindered. however, by my
 heavy riding boots. We had no time to
 secure our ponies. and the frightened
 animals, as soon as 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 ele- plants should pass us by unharmed. l We reached our position of safety none too soon. I could see the heavy forest branches shaking violently, and soon a huge gray mass broke through, | shambling along at @ remarkable rate of speed, not twenty yards from us, and screaming with vicious rage.
 "It's a rogue elephant, sahib," said Ramon. '"They are chasing him from | the herd"
 Such, indeed, seemed to be the case, for hundred yards behind him came another enormous figure, which was | headed straight for our place of refuge. As by lightning flash I saw the horri-
 
 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, gal" Qie down). The great beast paused. 'Let-rah, let-rah," again he cried; and to my astonishment the creature obediently went down upon it's knees.
 Ramon quickly descended, calling me to follow. Where a black leads, 8 white man does not lag behind, and down went. I did not understand how the magical transformation had been ef- fected, but as I turned and caught sight of the animal I eomprehended it all; around the great foreleg was a chain, the end of which still trained upon the ground. The quick eye of the native had seen it; he knew that the animal must have been in captivity at some time, and called out the word of com mand, hoping that it would be obeyed. He was not disappointed; for although the small eyes still gleamed with an ugly red light, and the trunk waved mutinously in the air, the great crea- ture had not forgotten his former train ing, We approached him cautiously at first, but presently Ramon rushed fear lessly up to the brute and petted him effusively, calling him by every name of endearment. "Ah, 'tis thou, My Lord the Elephant! Iris thou, leader of the all wiser than the wise men of the, east; beautiful as lotus bud, strong as the winds of heaven! Ohi great Lord Mowcha! Thy slave salutes thee"
 Truly enough, it was our old Mowcha, who, in spite of lapse of time and change of place, had not forgotten his old master and the familiar word of command.
 All this had happened within a few moments. The great herd was still crushing 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 farth- ing. Mowcha seemed to understand the situation perfectly, for his anger all gone he seized Ramon gently with his l strong trunk and set him upon 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 di- | rection opposite to that taken by the | rest of his fellows, and soon their | screams and thunderings had died l away in the distance.
 We wondered where My Lord the El- \ ephant intended to convey us, whether | to his native jungles or to the post | again. Ramon tried to guide him, but | found it impossible without the help of II the usual ankus, or goad, SO we con- fined our efforts to keeping our balance and staying on his back, a, somewhat difficult task without the aid of harness or llowdah.
 Briefly told, his strong, steady pace never failed for over ten hours, until we entered the post again Our ap- proach had been deserted from afar and every living soul had turned out to view the spectacle. When it was per- ceived that it was Mowcha, dear old Mowcha, who was bringing us back in safety, a hearty cheer broke from all throats, cheer for My Lord the Ele- phant. The children clapped their hands and shrieked with joy, and evenJ the soldiers shared the general enthusi- asm.
 We gave My Lord the Elephant a aIo l