his hands and looked up piously to heaven, in which the moon was once
more shining brightly.

"I let go his ear and burst out laughing, the whole scene and his devout
aspirations for the decease of the partner of his joys, or rather woes,
were so intensely ridiculous.

"'No, you old iniquity,' I answered; 'I left her in the top of a
thorn-tree, screaming like a thousand bluejays. The elephant put her
there.'

"'Alas! alas!' he said, 'surely the back of the ox is shaped to the
burden. Doubtless, my father, she will come down when she is tired;' and
without troubling himself further about the matter, he began to blow at
the smouldering embers of the fire.

"And, as a matter of fact, she did appear a few minutes later,
considerably scratched and startled, but none the worse.

"After that I made my way to my little camp, which, fortunately, the
elephants had not walked over, and wrapping myself up in a blanket, was
soon fast asleep.

"And so ended my first round with those three elephants."




IV--THE LAST ROUND