The Opelousas courier., 1895-03-23
the ground trembling beneath us at

NE1S
the %trampling of many feet.
Follow me, sahib!" cried Ramon, as
he threw himself from his horse and
fastened to one of the larger trees,
which he began to ascend with the
utmost rapidity. / did the same, my
progress being hindered, however, by
my heavy riding boots. We had NO
time to secure our ponies, and the
frightened animals, is soon as they
were released, sprang nimtly through
the thickets and disappeared; Md with
them, of course, vanished oar only
means of escape from the forsst, even
though the elephants should epass ua
by unframed.
We reached our position of safety
none too soon. could sec the heavy
forest branches shaking violently, and
soon a huge gray mass broke through,
shambling along at a remarkable rate
Of speed, not twenty yards from u.s.,
and screaming with vicious rage.
cts a rogue elephant, sahib,' said
Ramon. "They are chasing him fror
the herd"
cuCli. lluCCus SCS41Co w DS LC SooSs
for a hundred yards behind him came
another enormous figure, which was
headed straight for u place of refuge.
AS by lightning flash | saw the hor-
rible death that menaced us. | already
felt myself falling to the ground, in a
second more to be trampled to death
under those immense feet. But at thai
srcxort 1o,r1 po,rnp COLL ont h0111v.
"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 it's knees.
Ramon quickly descended, calling me
to follow. Where a black leads, a
white man does not lag behind, and
how the magical transformation had
been effected, but as I turned and
caught sight of the animal, l compre-
hended it all; around the great foreleg
was a 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
az Jill tLlI1Cs hhN Sdl1So ouo tnS WIN"
of command, hoping hat it would be
obeyed. He was not disappointed; for
although the small eyes still CLEANED
with an ugly red light, and the trunk
waved m%utinously 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, 'tis
thou, My Lord the Elephant! TITS thou.
leader of the herd, wiser than the wisa
mar of the temple, beautiful as a lotus
bud, strong as the winds of heavens
Oh, great Lord Mowcha! Thy slavt
salutes thee!'
Truly enough. it was our old Now
cha, who, in spite of lapse of time ano
change of place, had not forgotten his
old masters and the familiar word OF
command.
All this had happened within a few
moments. The great herd was sta
crashing through the forest all around
us, trumpeting with rage end shaking
VIAS SlSuLo al ChCIA Au1y oLAoulA L
of them chance to come near enou2:
to see us our lives would not DO wor.3
farthing. Mowcha seemed to unde.>
stand the situation perfectly, for, his
anger al! gone, he seized Ramon gently
with his strong trunk and set him up
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 ths
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