He picked up dust from the street with his trunk, blew a little of it in the general direction of the defeated enemy, blew a little more on himself, and turned his rump toward the gate, as if to signify that hostilities were over! As he did that, a man who was something of an athlete swung himself up on the off-side footboard, and a second later the proud face of the Gray Mahatma confronted me across the saddle-pad alongside King's! "You are heavy enough to balance the two of us," he said, as if no other comment were necessary.

"Why did you run away from me?
You can never escape!" Well, of course anybody could say that after he had found us again.
"Was it you who checked this elephant ?" I asked him, remembering what he had done to the black panther and the snakes, but he did not answer.
"Where do you think you are going ?" I asked.
"That is what the dry leaves asked of the wind," he answered.

"An observant eye is better than a yearning ear, and patience outwears curiosity!" Suddenly I recalled a remark that King had made on the beach and it dawned on me that by frightening the mahout into silence the Mahatma might undo the one gain we had made by that plunge and swim.

As long as the Maharajah who owned the elephant was to hear about our adventure, all was well.

News of us would reach the Government.