The Elephant God by Gordon Casserly
page 8 of 344 (02%)
page 8 of 344 (02%)
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He called across the parade ground to his white-clad Mussulman butler, who was looking down at him from the bungalow. "Bring that fruit off my table," he said in Hindustani. "Also the little medicine chest and a bowl of water." When the servant had brought them Dermot approached the elephant. "_Khubbadar_--(take care)--sahib!" cried a coolie, the _mahout's_ assistant. "He is suffering and angry. He may do you harm." But, while the rebuked _mahout_ glared malevolently and inwardly hoped that the animal might kill him, Dermot walked calmly toward it, holding out his hand with the fruit. The elephant, regarding him nervously and suspiciously out of its little eyes, shifted uneasily from foot to foot, and at first shrank from him. But, as the officer stood quietly in front of it, it stretched out its trunk and smelled the extended hand. Then it touched the arm and felt it up to the shoulder, on which it let the tip of the trunk rest for a few seconds. At last it seemed satisfied that the white man was a friend and did not intend to hurt it. During the ordeal Dermot had never moved; although there was every reason to fear that the animal, either from sheer nervousness or from resentment at the ill-treatment that it had just received, might attack him and trample him to death. Indeed, many tame elephants, being unused to Europeans, will not allow white men to approach them. So the Hindu coolie stood trembling with fright, while the _havildar_ and the butler were alarmed at their sahib's peril. |
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