Most of the maharajahs are pro-British, because their very existence as reigning princes depends on that attitude, and they can be relied on to report to the British authorities any irregularity whatever that comes under their notice and at the same time does not incriminate themselves.
The same thought probably occurred to King, but he was rather too recently recovered from drowning to be quick yet off the mark and besides, the Mahatma was between him and the mahout, whereas I had a free field.

So I tugged at the arm of the second mahout, who was sitting behind his chief, and he scrambled down beside me.
The Mahatma tried to take immediate advantage of that, and the very thing he did made it all the easier for me to deal with the second mahout, who had made the trip with us and who stared into my face with a kind of puzzled mistrust.

The Mahatma, as active as a cat, climbed up behind the chief mahout and sat astride the elephant's neck in the place where the second mahout had been, and began whispering.
"What is your Maharajah's name ?" I asked my neighbor on the plank.
"Jihanbihar," he answered, giving a string of titles too that had no particular bearing on the situation.

They sounded like a page of the Old Testament.
"You observe that his favorite elephant is about to be stolen with the aid of the Gray Mahatma!" The fellow nodded, and the expression of his face was not exactly pleased; he may have been one of a crowd that got cursed by the Mahatma for asking too many impertinent questions.
"He has a reputation, that Mahatma, hasn't he ?" I suggested.

"You have heard of the miracles that he performs ?" He nodded again.
"You see that he is talking to the chief mahout now?
Take my word for it, he is casting a spell on him! Would you like to have him cast a spell on you too ?" He shook his head.
"Run swiftly then, and tell the Maharajah _sahib_ to get a Brahman to cancel the spell, and you will be rewarded.