Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1897-01-21

calm him. l spoke to him, and the
rapid whirling of the body slackened.
l laid my hand on the side of bis head
and patted the quivering trunk, and
it slowly uncoiled and dropped Seim
to the ground.
| did not dare to look after him, for
could net take my eyes of Ahmed.
l was conscious that S.lim lay there
for a moment, and then began to crawl
away, and that after he had gone a
few yard. he arose and few without
looking behind him. was several
miles from home, alone with an ele-
phant, and knew nothing about man
aging him and was not at all sure
what were his intentions about me
Ahmed" I said, patting him gen.
tly. Poor Ahmed =
He caressed me with his trunk, and
showed every indication of affection,
and in few moments | began to re-
gain my confidence would try to
take the elephant home, at any rate.
l would not take the weapon which
Selim had used, and which had come
so near ending my days. l called to
him. "Come along, Ahmed, and
started homeward, and without the
least hesitation Ahmed walked beside
me, as gentle and harmless in appear
ance as pet dog.
What CONSERVATION there was when
I appeared at the house with the ele-
phant Ahmed stood in the yard be-
side me while l told my story, and
caressed me with his trunk and even
rifed my pockets of the pieces of cake
| had taken for him that morning and
had forgotten.
"Well, what are we going to do
now?" said Mr.. Franklin obviously.
1T is very hard to find good keeper,
especially at this season of the year,
and that bridge must be built at
once.
l volunteered to go to town and
find a keeper, and l was sure there
would be no trouble about it. But |
soon found that elephant keepers were
rare, and that the fame Of Ahmed had
gone forth, and none of them would
undertake the care of an elephant
that had rebelled and come so near
killing his last keeper.
There's only one way to manage
it." I said that night when | went
home. II will take Ahmed down to-
morrow and make him build the
bridge"
There was a general shout of horror,
and everybody had never heard of
such thing, and l did not know what
l was undertaking, and would be
sure to be killed. | waited till the
storm had subsided, and then | told
them that l would try it, anyway, and
if did not succeed, why then some
other plan must be devised.
1t must be confessed that | looked
at Ahmed the next morning with a
good deal of trepidation. He certainly
was very large. | had my pockets full
of biscuits which meant to use as
sops for Cerberus all through the
morning, but he found them without
delay and ate them all at a mouthful,
and then we took our way down to the
bridge, several members Of the family
following at distance, for they were
very doubtful as to the results Of the
experiment.
But we went down to the timbers
which were to go into the bridge, and
| showed Ahmed which one | wanted
out, wondering if he would under
stand me. He did. Without the least
delay he lifted the log, and then we
journeyed down to the stream, and |
showed him where the log was to go.
We got on famously, and | heard a
faint cheer from the bank, where the
doubters were in hiding. Ahmed and
| were building the bridge as pleas
antly as though we had done nothing
all our lives but build bridges.
Surely, it was a great change-an
American boy, in nineteenth century
costume, turning elephant trainer and
builder of bridges in the island of
Ceylon, but that is what had hap
pened. l wondered if any Of my old
friends could ever believe this. And
vet it had all come about in the NEST
natural way. for l had merely shown
the animal little kindness. and 80
had won his love.
A few days later, greatly to my JOY,
a man appeared whom Ahmed conde-
.cended to accept as his trainer, and |
turned my pet over to him, noting