"I think you had better."

"So do I," said Peter, changing his position so that he could stand up on Rajah's neck, steadying himself by one of the pendent boughs, and resting the b.u.t.t of one of the spears upon the animal's neck.

He had just finished this when the mahout, who had evidently prepared himself for his journey by donning his turban and his showy yellow baju and sarong, recommenced his torrent of abuse.

"Yah!" roared Peter as loudly as he could. "Hold your row, you ugly, snub-nosed, thick-lipped, little c.o.c.k-bantam of a man!"

The mahout stopped short and sat staring in wonder, with his mouth wide open and the corners of his lips ruddy with the juice of the betel-nut he had been chewing.

"How dah you?" roared Peter, in the loudest and best imitation he could produce of the Major in one of his angry fits. "How dah you? I say.

How dah you? You flat-nosed little run-amucker! Speak like that to a British officer!" And he emphasised his last words by raising the spear and bringing the b.u.t.t down again heavily on Rajah's neck, his energetic action making the great elephant stir uneasily, so that the speaker was nearly dislodged. "Quiet, will you?" roared Peter, making a fresh grab at the branch he held. "Want to have me overboard?"

The elephant grunted.

"Yah-h-h-h-h!" roared Peter, raising the spear he held; and poising it after the fashion he had learned from the Malays, he seemed about to hurl it at the little mahout, whose head and shoulders he could see plainly now just beyond Rajah's shabby little tail. "You dare to say another word, and I will pin you where you sit, like the miserable little beetle you are! Now then.--Here, steady, Rajah!--Hold tight, Mister Archie! I am coming to you; but just you make a show of that other spear. You needn't get up, but make believe to be about to chuck it at him if he isn't pretty careful."

Archie held on more tightly to the rope girths by which he had kept his position so long, while Peter rather unsteadily joined him, bringing himself so much nearer to the mahout that he could have pretty well touched him had he extended his spear.

"I say, Mister Archie," he said, "if old Rajah takes it into his head to move on now, I shall pitch right on to old Chocolate there.--Yah-h!" he roared again.

The mahout, who had apparently begun to recover from his astonishment, had changed his ankus from one hand to the other, and was in the act of drawing his kris, when Peter yelled at him again and made so fierce a thrust with his spear that all the little fellow's pugnacity died out, or, as it were, pa.s.sed away in a shriek of fear.

"Ah, that's better," cried Peter. "Now then, you have got to do what I tell you."

The mahout's eyes rolled as he thrust back his kris into its sheath, the man's face turning from a rich, pale-brown hue to a dirty, pallid mud colour.

"Here, give us that kris, Mister Archie," continued Peter in a bl.u.s.tering tone.

"You are not going to use it, Pete?" half-whispered the subaltern.

"You will see, sir," cried the lad fiercely; and then he almost roared, "He'd better not give me any of his nonsense!" And taking the kris in his hand, he held the blade threateningly towards the mahout and beckoned to him to come.

His gestures were so plain, and the manifestations with the little, wave-bladed dagger so easily comprehensible, that the poor, shivering, little wretch dragged himself out of his seat and knelt upon the head of the smaller elephant and bowed down with his hands extended as if asking for mercy.

"Ah, you know you deserve it!" roared Peter. "Now then, give me that weapon--quick!"

The man raised his head a little and looked up at the lad, who was making a horrible grimace and rolling his eyes; and then seeming to fully grasp his meaning, he quickly drew kris and sheath from the folds of his sarong, and held them out to Peter, who s.n.a.t.c.hed them away and handed them to Archie.

"Now then," shouted Peter, "don't you pretend you can't understand plain English, because if you do I'll--" He raised the spear on high and made as if to deliver a thrust, with the effect that the mahout uttered a shriek of fear and banged his forehead heavily down between his hands.

"Now get up," roared Peter; and the man raised his head and displayed a face and lips quivering with fear, shrinking sharply as the lad reached out and laid the blade of the spear upon the thinly covered shoulder.

"Now, you understand: if you try to play any games you will get this.

D'ye 'ear?"

The poor fellow uttered a few words in his own tongue, and raised his hands together towards Peter as if begging for mercy.

What followed took some considerable time and proved a difficult task, for the mahout was almost beside himself with fear; but as soon as he grasped Peter's meaning he set to work excitedly, and with the cleverness born of experience he loosened the ropes of the tiger pad upon the lesser elephant, unlaced them, and with Peter's a.s.sistance dragged it on to the back of the larger beast, Archie having changed his place to Rajah's neck, where he sat facing the workers with a spear in each hand.

"Don't look so good-tempered, sir," Peter stopped for a few moments to say. "Squeege your eyes up, sir, and show your teeth, as if you meant to eat the little beggar."

"Oh, nonsense!" replied Archie. "You have regularly mastered him now.

The poor little wretch is half-dead with fright."

"Yuss!" growled Peter, turning to give a savage look at his panting little companion. "He knows what Great Britons are, sir; and it's lucky for him he does.--Now then," he roared, "let's get this job done."

The mahout winced, and after a time the task of securing the big, comfortable pad was finished, and, in obedience to Peter, Archie took his seat upon it, while the mahout made a gesture as if asking whether he should go back now to his old seat on the lesser elephant, which all the time was following Rajah's example and making a hearty meal of the succulent leaves.

"What does he mean by that, Mister Archie?" whispered Peter. "No, no, don't tell me! I see;" and turning to the mahout, he roared out "No!"

and pointed forward towards Rajah's neck. "That's your place," he shouted; and the little fellow, grasping Peter's meaning, crept past Archie and took his seat, settling himself, with a sigh, with his legs beneath the great beast's ears.

The big elephant, though apparently intent upon demolishing as many leaves as he could contain, proved himself to have been busy with his little, pig-like eyes the while, for as the mahout took his seat he began muttering and chuntering again, and dropping a bunch of the green food, he turned up his trunk and began to pa.s.s it over the body of his rider.

The look of fear had died out of the mahout's countenance as he turned his face to the two Englishmen, and he nodded and smiled rather pitifully, as he seemed to be feeling now that his life was going to be spared.

"All right!" shouted Peter; and the mahout winced again as he drew his ankus from where he had tucked it in the folds of his sarong, as if to signify that he was ready to perform any duties his masters wished.

"That's done it, Mister Archie," said Peter. "One can't understand everybody's lingo, but good, loud English goes a long way if you put plenty of powder behind it. You see now.--Forward!" roared Peter, and the mahout, who had been nervously watching his every movement, turned and spoke to Rajah, when the monster moved on at once into the deep, rich glow that was now penetrating the tunnel-like road, while the lesser elephant stayed for a few minutes to collect a good-sized bundle of twigs, and then moved after its fellow as contentedly as if everything were right.

"Then you are going to make him take us right back to camp, Pete?" said Archie.

"Yes, sir; that's the marching orders, if we can do it; but it won't be very long before it's dark."

"Yes; it will soon be sundown. How long do you think the elephant will go on?"

"I d'know, sir. It's chance it--chance it, just as it's been ever since we started this morning. I say, though, this 'ere's more comfortable than riding barebacked, holding on to a rope, sir, eh?"

"Pete, my lad," said Archie, with a sigh, "it's wonderful! How did you manage it all?"

"Oh, sir," said the lad modestly, "it's only having a bit of a try. One never knows what one can do till you sets to work, and when you puts your back to it and goes in for chance it as well, it mostly turns out pretty tidy."

"Yes, Pete; but what worries me now is what we are going to do when the elephant stops to rest or sleep."

"Don't you worry your head about that, Mister Archie. I know you are weak and pulled down, but just you pay a bit more heed to what I say.

It's what you ought to do now, and what we must do--chance it, sir, chance it, same as I'm doing about something else."

"What else?" said Archie wearily, as he let his aching body sway with the movement of the great steed.

"About whether this is the right way or the wrong, sir. I don't know; you don't know. But perhaps old Rajah does, so what we have got to do, as I said before, is to keep our eyes on that little bantam of a Malay, and chance it, sir--chance it."

CHAPTER THIRTY.

A JUNGLE NIGHT.

It was just as the shades of night were coming on that the great elephant stepped out of the tunnel into comparative light. The wall of verdure opened out on either side, and a natural clearing lay before the travellers, while, still bearing what looked like the pale stain of sunshine, there flowing from right to left was the river.

There was a regular track marked out by the various animals that frequented it; and the mud-holes formed by the elephants grew deeper and more given to spurt out water as the great animals pa.s.sed on till the edge of the river was reached, when they plunged in on to what now seemed to be firm, gravelly soil, with the clear stream pressing against their sides, till the smaller elephant was pretty well breast-deep.

Here Rajah stood, setting the example and drinking deeply, while those he bore began to suffer the pangs of Tantalus as they saw the clear stream gliding by.