"Ain't it been a mistake, sir?" said Peter Pegg. "We ought to have
risked it both of us together, stirred him up with the spears or the
point of that kris, and made him go on."
"No mistake, Pete. He would have turned savage, and dragged you off as
easily as he lifted you up, then knocked you down with his trunk and
perhaps trampled you into the mud."
"Perhaps you are right, sir; and it wouldn't have been very pleasant.
But hark! There's a helephant coming, and you can hear the _suck, suck,
suck_ of his feet in the mud plainer and plainer. I wish whoever they
are upon it would holloa again. I want to know how many that
helephant's got on board."
"I think only one," said Archie.
"Oh, well, we are not going to give up to one, sir. I was afraid--I
mean, 'spected--there'd be a howdah full, all with their spears and
krises, and a mahout as well. Have you got any orders to give me, sir,
about dismounting?"
"No; we must do the best we can from where we sit. What could we do if
we got down into this narrow path full of mud-holes?"
"Nothing at all, sir," replied Peter. "I think just the same as you do.
The helephant's getting very close now, so keep telling me what you see
from up there, for I can see next to nothing where I'm sitting. Now,
sir," whispered the lad, "can't you see him yet?"
"No; the path bends round."
"But you must see directly, sir.--Here, you keep quiet, Rajah, and leave
them boughs alone."
"I can see now, Pete," said Archie eagerly. "It's the smallest
elephant, with a tiger pad on its back."
"Yes, sir; but who's on it?"
"Only one man--the mahout, in a turban."
"Oh, him! That little, squatty driver! I can finish him off with one
on the nose."
"No; I think--yes, it is the mahout who rode into camp at the review."
"What! him, sir? That's Rajah's own mahout--I mean, Rajah's his
helephant. That's why he stopped. _Phee--ew_!" whistled the lad.
"Why, he's a friend of mine. I say, sir, we are not so bad off as I
thought."
"You've met him before, then, Pete?"
"Course I did, sir--day of the sham-fight. But I didn't know he was up
yonder. He must have been there all the time, though he didn't show up.
That little, squatty chap used to do all the work of taking the
helephants to water, while he stopped back, too big to do any of that
dirty work, and ready to ride when he was wanted."
It seemed plain enough now that when the big elephant was missing, his
mahout had come in search of the huge brute himself, and directly after
the small elephant he was now riding bore him close up, butting its head
against Rajah's hind-quarters and uttering a squealing, muttering sound,
while, without turning his head, Rajah seemed to answer, and went on
breaking off succulent boughs of leafage, to go on munching as if quite
content.
But, heard directly above the gruntings and mutterings of the two
elephants, the fierce-looking little mahout raised himself as high as he
could in his seat and burst into a furious tirade in his own tongue, not
a word of which could be grasped by his hearers, but its general tenor
seemed to be a series of angry questions as to how dare these two
English infidels take away his elephant, and bidding them get down
directly.
"Can you understand all that, Mister Archie?" said Peter as the man
paused to take breath.
"No," was the reply. "Can you?"
"No, sir; but it's all plain enough. Now, will you drop upon him?"
"I think you had better."
"So do I," said Peter, changing his position so that he could stand up
on Rajah's neck, steadying himself by one of the pendent boughs, and
resting the butt of one of the spears upon the animal's neck.
He had just finished this when the mahout, who had evidently prepared
himself for his journey by donning his turban and his showy yellow baju
and sarong, recommenced his torrent of abuse.
"Yah!" roared Peter as loudly as he could. "Hold your row, you ugly,
snub-nosed, thick-lipped, little cock-bantam of a man!"
The mahout stopped short and sat staring in wonder, with his mouth wide
open and the corners of his lips ruddy with the juice of the betel-nut
he had been chewing.
"How dah you?" roared Peter, in the loudest and best imitation he could
produce of the Major in one of his angry fits. "How dah you? I say.
How dah you? You flat-nosed little run-amucker! Speak like that to a
British officer!" And he emphasised his last words by raising the spear
and bringing the butt down again heavily on Rajah's neck, his energetic
action making the great elephant stir uneasily, so that the speaker was
nearly dislodged. "Quiet, will you?" roared Peter, making a fresh grab
at the branch he held. "Want to have me overboard?"
The elephant grunted.
"Yah-h-h-h-h!" roared Peter, raising the spear he held; and poising it
after the fashion he had learned from the Malays, he seemed about to
hurl it at the little mahout, whose head and shoulders he could see
plainly now just beyond Rajah's shabby little tail. "You dare to say
another word, and I will pin you where you sit, like the miserable
little beetle you are! Now then.--Here, steady, Rajah!--Hold tight,
Mister Archie! I am coming to you; but just you make a show of that
other spear. You needn't get up, but make believe to be about to chuck
it at him if he isn't pretty careful."
Archie held on more tightly to the rope girths by which he had kept his
position so long, while Peter rather unsteadily joined him, bringing
himself so much nearer to the mahout that he could have pretty well
touched him had he extended his spear.
"I say, Mister Archie," he said, "if old Rajah takes it into his head to
move on now, I shall pitch right on to old Chocolate there.--Yah-h!" he
roared again.
The mahout, who had apparently begun to recover from his astonishment,
had changed his ankus from one hand to the other, and was in the act of
drawing his kris, when Peter yelled at him again and made so fierce a
thrust with his spear that all the little fellow's pugnacity died out,
or, as it were, passed away in a shriek of fear.
"Ah, that's better," cried Peter. "Now then, you have got to do what I
tell you."
The mahout's eyes rolled as he thrust back his kris into its sheath, the
man's face turning from a rich, pale-brown hue to a dirty, pallid mud
colour.
"Here, give us that kris, Mister Archie," continued Peter in a
blustering tone.
"You are not going to use it, Pete?" half-whispered the subaltern.
"You will see, sir," cried the lad fiercely; and then he almost roared,
"He'd better not give me any of his nonsense!" And taking the kris in
his hand, he held the blade threateningly towards the mahout and
beckoned to him to come.
His gestures were so plain, and the manifestations with the little,
wave-bladed dagger so easily comprehensible, that the poor, shivering,
little wretch dragged himself out of his seat and knelt upon the head of
the smaller elephant and bowed down with his hands extended as if asking
for mercy.
"Ah, you know you deserve it!" roared Peter. "Now then, give me that
weapon--quick!"
The man raised his head a little and looked up at the lad, who was
making a horrible grimace and rolling his eyes; and then seeming to
fully grasp his meaning, he quickly drew kris and sheath from the folds
of his sarong, and held them out to Peter, who snatched them away and
handed them to Archie.
"Now then," shouted Peter, "don't you pretend you can't understand plain
English, because if you do I'll--" He raised the spear on high and made
as if to deliver a thrust, with the effect that the mahout uttered a
shriek of fear and banged his forehead heavily down between his hands.
"Now get up," roared Peter; and the man raised his head and displayed a
face and lips quivering with fear, shrinking sharply as the lad reached
out and laid the blade of the spear upon the thinly covered shoulder.
"Now, you understand: if you try to play any games you will get this.
D'ye 'ear?"
The poor fellow uttered a few words in his own tongue, and raised his
hands together towards Peter as if begging for mercy.
What followed took some considerable time and proved a difficult task,
for the mahout was almost beside himself with fear; but as soon as he
grasped Peter's meaning he set to work excitedly, and with the
cleverness born of experience he loosened the ropes of the tiger pad
upon the lesser elephant, unlaced them, and with Peter's assistance
dragged it on to the back of the larger beast, Archie having changed his
place to Rajah's neck, where he sat facing the workers with a spear in
each hand.
"Don't look so good-tempered, sir," Peter stopped for a few moments to
say. "Squeege your eyes up, sir, and show your teeth, as if you meant
to eat the little beggar."
"Oh, nonsense!" replied Archie. "You have regularly mastered him now.
The poor little wretch is half-dead with fright."
"Yuss!" growled Peter, turning to give a savage look at his panting
little companion. "He knows what Great Britons are, sir; and it's lucky
for him he does.--Now then," he roared, "let's get this job done."
The mahout winced, and after a time the task of securing the big,
comfortable pad was finished, and, in obedience to Peter, Archie took
his seat upon it, while the mahout made a gesture as if asking whether
he should go back now to his old seat on the lesser elephant, which all
the time was following Rajah's example and making a hearty meal of the
succulent leaves.
"What does he mean by that, Mister Archie?" whispered Peter. "No, no,
don't tell me! I see;" and turning to the mahout, he roared out "No!"
and pointed forward towards Rajah's neck. "That's your place," he
shouted; and the little fellow, grasping Peter's meaning, crept past
Archie and took his seat, settling himself, with a sigh, with his legs
beneath the great beast's ears.
The big elephant, though apparently intent upon demolishing as many
leaves as he could contain, proved himself to have been busy with his
little, pig-like eyes the while, for as the mahout took his seat he
began muttering and chuntering again, and dropping a bunch of the green
food, he turned up his trunk and began to pass it over the body of his
rider.
The look of fear had died out of the mahout's countenance as he turned
his face to the two Englishmen, and he nodded and smiled rather
pitifully, as he seemed to be feeling now that his life was going to be
spared.
"All right!" shouted Peter; and the mahout winced again as he drew his
ankus from where he had tucked it in the folds of his sarong, as if to
signify that he was ready to perform any duties his masters wished.
"That's done it, Mister Archie," said Peter. "One can't understand
everybody's lingo, but good, loud English goes a long way if you put
plenty of powder behind it. You see now.--Forward!" roared Peter, and
the mahout, who had been nervously watching his every movement, turned
and spoke to Rajah, when the monster moved on at once into the deep,
rich glow that was now penetrating the tunnel-like road, while the
lesser elephant stayed for a few minutes to collect a good-sized bundle
of twigs, and then moved after its fellow as contentedly as if
everything were right.
"Then you are going to make him take us right back to camp, Pete?" said
Archie.
"Yes, sir; that's the marching orders, if we can do it; but it won't be
very long before it's dark."
"Yes; it will soon be sundown. How long do you think the elephant will
go on?"
"I d'know, sir. It's chance it--chance it, just as it's been ever since
we started this morning. I say, though, this 'ere's more comfortable
than riding barebacked, holding on to a rope, sir, eh?"
"Pete, my lad," said Archie, with a sigh, "it's wonderful! How did you
manage it all?"
"Oh, sir," said the lad modestly, "it's only having a bit of a try. One
never knows what one can do till you sets to work, and when you puts
your back to it and goes in for chance it as well, it mostly turns out
pretty tidy."
"Yes, Pete; but what worries me now is what we are going to do when the
elephant stops to rest or sleep."
"Don't you worry your head about that, Mister Archie. I know you are
weak and pulled down, but just you pay a bit more heed to what I say.
It's what you ought to do now, and what we must do--chance it, sir,
chance it, same as I'm doing about something else."
"What else?" said Archie wearily, as he let his aching body sway with
the movement of the great steed.
"About whether this is the right way or the wrong, sir. I don't know;
you don't know. But perhaps old Rajah does, so what we have got to do,
as I said before, is to keep our eyes on that little bantam of a Malay,
and chance it, sir--chance it."