Part 6 (1/2)

CHAPTER VI

THE LITTLE SAHIB SEES THE BIG ELEPHANTS

”TO-DAY I must take the young elephants home,” said Uncle Achmed, when the wedding festivities were over. ”Are the two little princelings ready to go with me?” he continued, smiling at his two little nephews.

”Indeed we are,” exclaimed the two boys, wild with delight, though they did not whoop or jump about as boys probably would do elsewhere. Little Hindu children don't make much noise at any time. It would be thought strange because it would be bad manners to do so; indeed a Hindu very seldom even laughs loudly.

But there was nothing that Chola and Mahala really liked better than to go to their uncle's house and see the big elephants at work. Uncle Achmed had a big lumber-yard on the banks of the Ganges, and used many elephants to move about and pile up the great logs of teak-wood.

Wouldn't little boys in America think it a lot of fun if they could go out into the country and see, instead of horses, a lot of elephants at work? Well, that is just what a little Hindu boy can do, for elephants are almost as plentiful as horses in India; and they use them for many kinds of work where we use horses or machinery.

”I have brought the old elephant with me; he is wise and will be able to show the others the way home; and, also, he will tell them how to behave,” said Achmed, as he and the two boys made their way to the _serai_, the camping-place of the elephants outside the city gate.

Here were lots and lots of great gray elephants, swinging their long trunks from side to side as they swayed and stamped around, while their owners and drivers shouted and disputed together.

The two young elephants were hobbled in one corner, swaying to and fro and swinging their trunks in rather a wicked way. Near by was Uncle Achmed's old elephant, swinging his trunk at the two young ones as much as to say: ”There are a great many things for you youngsters to learn yet, and I'm going to teach you.”

The driver touched the old elephant with his stick and the great beast slowly knelt down. Achmed and the boys then climbed into the _howdah_, and the great big elephant marched off with much dignity.

”Look, the little elephants do not like the road,” said Chola, pointing to the new elephants, who would not budge. A little prodding from the driver's sharp stick, however, made them change their minds quickly; and they meekly followed the old elephant.

”Thou art like two little Rajahs now,” said Uncle Achmed, with a smile as he squatted in the _howdah_ beside them and took out his ”_betel_”

box. It was a beautiful little silver box, all inlaid with enamel and precious stones. Inside were three compartments which held _betel_ nuts, lime, and spices. He took a pinch of all three of these and began to chew the _pan_, as the mixture is called.

The boys had a very good time. They would call down to the children walking along the dusty road and twit them for not being able to ride in state as they were doing, just as children do the world over. Everybody gave them the road, or, rather, the big elephants took it as a matter of course. The old elephant took all kinds of liberties with the pa.s.sers-by, evidently just for the fun of the thing. He would give a fellow trudging along a nudge on the back with the end of his trunk, which would nearly scare the fellow to death; or he would sneeze, as it were, into a lazy beggar's face, which would make the ”Holy Man” very angry indeed. Once he deliberately took a nice ripe melon out of a cart and ate it, while its owner, who was fast asleep, never missed it.

”He is a wise one,” said Uncle Achmed, ”but what is the matter there?”

he cried, looking back. The matter was that a wedding procession had just come out of a side road. The bride was in a litter covered with gay curtains and gold embroideries, and the bridegroom was riding a white horse which was all decked with flowers, and had his mane and tail dyed pink.

With all this splendour there was much beating of drums and music from other noisy instruments. One of the new elephants had taken a great fright and backed up against the bride's litter. This had made the bridegroom's horse rear up and nearly upset him on the dusty road. The poor little bride screamed, and the crowd of relations and friends abused the elephant and all his family and kindred back through many generations, several hundreds of years, which is the true Hindu fas.h.i.+on of showing one's anger.

The drivers prodded and punched, but the young elephant would not move.

Then old Ranji, the wise old elephant, wheeled around and went up to the naughty and obstinate youngster and gave his trunk such a twist that he squealed out in pain. Then Ranji gave him a push out into the middle of the road again, and after this kept the young one right in front of him.

He was so scared that he scarcely dared to swing his trunk from side to side again; and all went smoothly until they lumbered into the great courtyard of Achmed's house, which sat in the midst of a wide expanse of rice-fields.

As they climbed down out of the ”_howdah_,” the head servant made a ”_salaam_,” or bow, before the master until his forehead touched the ground, which is a way of being very polite. He then told Achmed that the Colonel _Sahib_ and the little _Sahib_ had done him the honour of coming to see him, and were even now sitting in the garden awaiting his coming. All Englishmen in India are called _Sahib_ and English women are called _Mem-sahib_.

Achmed found the Colonel sitting on a bed under a big tree in the garden. This bed the head servant had brought from the house for him to sit on, for this is one of the forms of politeness shown to English visitors at a Hindu home.

Just then the ”little _Sahib_” ran up to see the elephants; and, who should he be, but the little boy who had lost his way in the Bazaar.

”Look, it is the little _Sahib_ I talked with,” exclaimed Chola to Mahala.

”h.e.l.lo!” said Harry, holding out his hand. ”Oh, I forgot you folk never shake hands,” he continued. ”Isn't it funny to think I should see you again? But this isn't the same boy who was with you before,” he continued, turning to Mahala.

The boys were delighted to see each other again, and soon were talking away as if they had always known one another, though sometimes it was hard for them to understand, and they made many funny mistakes.

Harry thought the big elephants were wonderful beasts, and wanted to see them at work; so the boys took him down to the river where the elephants were piling up the teak. An elephant picks up one end of a log with his trunk and lays that on the pile; then he takes hold of the other end and so brings it around in place. All the while his driver sits on the neck of the great beast, and tells him what to do by prodding him gently with his iron-shod stick. After awhile the elephants become so well trained that they will do their work without any guidance whatever.