Page:The Jungle Book.djvu/251

228 Nag, above the trumpeting and crashing, and snapping of ropes, and groans of the tethered elephants. "Maîl, maîl, Kala Nag!" (Go on, go on. Black Snake!) Dant do! (Give him the tusk!) ''Somalo! Somalo!' (Careful, careful!) Maro! Mar!'' (Hit him, hit him!) Mind the post! ''Arre! Arre! Hai! Yai! Kya-a-ah!'' he would shout, and the big fight between Kala Nag and the wild elephant would sway to and fro across the Keddah, and the old elephant-catchers would wipe the sweat out of their eyes, and find time to nod to Little Toomai wriggling with joy on the top of the posts.

He did more than wriggle. One night he slid down from the post and slipped in between the elephants, and threw up the loose end of a rope, which had dropped, to a driver who was trying to get a purchase on the leg of a kicking young calf (calves always give more trouble than full-grown animals). Kala Nag saw him, caught him in his trunk, and handed him up to Big Toomai, who slapped him then and there, and put him back on the post.

Next morning he gave him a scolding, and said: "Are not good brick elephant-lines and a little tent-carrying enough, that thou must needs go elephant-catching on thy own account, little