Page:McClure's Magazine v9 n3 to v10 no2.djvu/283

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of but medium size, is borne down by the press to his knees, and, in regaining his feet, he strikes with his shoulder a beam of teak wood nearly a foot square. Instantly the beam is rent into splinters that go flying high in the air.

The moment the herd has entered, the entrance is closed by throwing across it a triple row of strong teak bars. Finding themselves shut in, the elephants begin to circle round a wooden tower placed in the center of the inclosure and occupied by the officer who directs the work. In this circuit they are seeking the leader who has conducted them thus far; but he has been quietly withdrawn by his rider through a curiously contrived wicket gate, of which we shall learn more later on. The precaution is not unnecessary, for if the leader were still in the herd after his dupes came to a full realization of their imprisonment, his life probably would not be worth much.

It is now near sunset—owing to the great heat herds are never driven in the middle of the day—and the elephants are given a light supper of tender bamboo branches and left for the night to such