Part 7 (1/2)
”Oh, son of a wicked, squinting mother, am I to come and pull thy ugly, great tusks out by the roots?” shrieked the Hindu.
”Woomble! woomble!” went the elephant; and the sergeant stepped forward to give d.i.c.k his support.
”Woomph!” roared the animal angrily, and the sergeant started back.
”I don't think he wants to hurt me,” said d.i.c.k; ”it only feels tight.”
”I don't know, sir,” said the sergeant. ”I don't know what to make of these brutes. They're not like horses.”
”Not a bit,” said d.i.c.k, with rather a forced smile, for his position was awkward, and he began to think of what might happen if the elephant held on and suddenly rose to its feet.
”Why don't you make him leave go?” cried the sergeant angrily.
”Thy servant is trying, sahib,” whimpered the man, who jumped on the elephant again, but only brought forth a grunt.
”Shout at him; he understands you.”
”Yes, sahib; but he is in one of his bad tempers this morning.”
The man stepped forward and stamped with one foot on the beast's neck, and then kicked at his ear.
”That does no good. Where's your spiked hook?”
”It is not here, O sahib,” whimpered the man, who then burst out with a furious tirade of vituperation; but the offending beast only twitched its contemptible little tail and winked good-humouredly at d.i.c.k.
”Oh, vile, pig-headed brother of a mugger!” shrieked the man, while all his fellows stopped short and watched the encounter; ”am I to curse thee till thou dost shrivel up into a chicken maggot? Am I to cease cleaning thy dirty hide, and leave thee to be eaten up by wicked flies?”
The elephant ”chuntered,” as a north-country man might say, and its meaning seemed to be, ”Oh, yes, if you like.”
”Will you let go of the young sahib's leg, oh first cousin of ten thousand demons?” shrieked the man.
”Poomph!” growled the elephant; and the Hindu started on another tack, while a couple of his fellows, bearing buckets of water, came nearer.
”Oh, sweet son of a beautiful little mother, beloved eater of cane and sugar-gra.s.s, handsome pet of the ivory teeth! unclasp the young sahib's leg, and thy mahout will paint thee in red and blue stripes with vermilion and indigo. He will gild thy tusks with gold, and put a velvet cloth with silken ropes on thy soft, mountain-like back, so that the elephants of the Rajah of Soojeepur shall be jealous, and run away maddened to the jungle when thou goest thy way.”
”Pooroon! pooroon!” grumbled the great beast.
”What! Not when thy beloved mahout promises thee that?” cried the mahout, sliding off the flesh-mountain to bend down and lift up the great flap of an ear and whisper gently, ”Sweet gums shall be thine, and bananas, great melons and cuc.u.mbers.”
”Whoo--oomph!”
There was a kind of flesh-quake, the Hindu was thrown sideways, the trunk had been uncoiled, and the monster heaved up its huge bulk and stood over d.i.c.k, who had not moved, swaying its great head from side to side, and bringing its splendid great tusks within an inch or two every time it swept them by.
”Let the young sahib run before the evil-born beast with a miserable tail slays him by putting him under his foot!” cried the man.
”He won't hurt me,” said d.i.c.k gently. ”Will you, old chap? There, I haven't got anything for you.”
d.i.c.k raised his hand and rubbed the monster's corrugated trunk, moving gently out of its way as it came forward to where the men who looked on had set down their buckets of water, and now fled hastily.