The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-05

. for man long enough and would now re-
. turn 20 his native woods and the society
Of his kind. We never knew, Of course. but
we missed him more than one would think
and for some time the cry among the
. children was: III MoWcha were only
. herer'
tried q number OF other elephants for
ms hunting. but could not M his place,
. and as ms duties increased about that
f time. my gun rarely left its case. and my
4 cartridge belt hung unused. on the wall.
About three or four years later ! was in
. vited 10 spend the Christmas holidays with
u an English friend who was giving house
party at his place further up in the hills.
] easily obtained leave and started with
/ but one servant. Ramon. He had formerly
. been Alowcha's mahOut but after that
] brutes uucanny disappearance he had at
tached himself 10 me and proved 10 be
very handy fellow. We were mounted on
hardy little ponies. and the first day made
about nifty miles, spending the night at
the hut Of one Of the forest rangers who
are stationed by the government as
guard along the edges Of large and inn
p0rtant forests. The next day we plunged
into the forest Itself. Toward midday We
We're startled by hearing fearful, thun-
derous roaring. as Of some monster in its
death agony At that distance / did not
recognize il as the voice of any wild an
imal I was acquainted with. and turned
20 Ramon for an explanation. His dark
skin was bleached to ashen gray.
ITS herd OF elephantsw he exclaimed,
and they are sounding their battle cry.
IL they come this way il means certain
death. We cannot escape 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
Follow me, sahib." cried Ramon. as he
E n %
tened TO one Of the larger trees which
he began to ascend with the utmost rapid
ity 1 did the same, my progress being
hindered, however. by my heavy riding
boots. We had no time 10 secure our DO,
MES 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 elephants should pass us by
unframed.
We reached our position of safety none
too soon. l could see the heavy forest
branches shaking violently, and soon a
huge gray mass broke through, shambline
along at remarkable rate of speed, not
twenty yards from US, and screaming
with vicious rage.
ITS rogue elephant, sahib," said Ra-
herd"
I ''--tf tAiNiNN'ii 0tEAilfu 70 ne the case Tor a
hundred yards behind him came another
enormous figure which was headed
straight for our place of refuge AS by
lightning flash / saw the horrible death
/ that menaced us. / already felt myself
falling to the ground, in second more to
be trampled to death under those i'm
mense feet. But az that instant l heard
/ Ramon call out boldly. "Let-rah gaj." die
/ DOWN. The great beast paused. Let
ran, let rah," again he cried. and, to my
/ 0stonishment th6 creature obediently
/ went down upon its knees.
Ramon quickly descended, calling me to
/ follow. Where black leads white man
/ does not lag behind. and down l went
/ dld not understand how the tragical
/ transformation had been effected but as
/ turned and caught sight Of the animal
/ comprehended 1t 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 at
some time and called out the word of
command, hoping that 1t would be obey
| ed. He was not disappointed, for al
| though the small eyes still cleaned with
an ugly red light, and the trunk waved
/ mutinously in the air, the great creature
/ had not forgotten his former training We
approached him cautiously at first, but
| presently Ramon rushed fearlessly up to
the brute and petted him efusively. call
/ ing him by every name of Cndearment.
/ All It's thou, my lord the elephant! It's
thou, leader of the herd, wiser than the
wise men of the temple, beautiful as a
lotus bud, strong as the winds of heaven!
Oh, great Lord Mowcha! Thy slave sa-
| lutes theer'
Truly enough, il was our old Mowcha,
| who, in spite of lapse of time and change
OF place, had not forgotten his old masters
and the familiar word of command
Allthis had happened within a few mo-
ments. The great herd was stll crashing
through the forest all around us. trumpet
ing 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 a farthing. Mowcha
seemed to understand the situation per
fectly, for his anger all gone, he seized
Ramon gently with his strong trunk and
set him upon his neck, where the mahout
usually rides; he grasped me with the
Same ease and pl'ced 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 ele-
plant 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 the usual
duhuS, OF SOdu, 50 we cOnnueu our euOftS
to keeping our balance and staying on his
back, a somewhat difficult task without
the aid Of harness or howdah.
Briefly told. his strong. steady pace
never failed for over ten hours. until we
entered the post again. Our approach had
been deserted from afar, and every living
soul had turned out to view the spectacle
When it perceived thatsit was Mowcha
dear old Mowcha, who was bringing us
back in safety, a hearty cheer broke
from all threats, a cheer for my lord the
elephant The children clapped their
hands and shrieked with joy, and even the
soldiers shared the general enthusiasm.
We gave my lord the elephant a feast
such as never elephant had had before,
but he did not seem to enjoy the dain-
ties spread before him so much as the
moment when the howdah was placed on
his back and he was led forth, surround
ed by the children, whom he once more
bore solemnly around the post.
For two days he remained with us, and
was the object of attention and love; then