We all like him; though he'll never let any white man
handle him. By the way, Ismail Khan says he permitted you to do it."
"I doctored up his cuts. Besides, I'm used to elephants."
"All the same you're the first sahib I've heard Of that Badshah has allowed
to touch him. Do you know, the Hindus worship him. He's a _Gunesh_--I
supposed you noticed that. I've seen some of them simply go down on their
faces in the dust before him and pray to him. There's a curious thing about
Badshah, too. Have you heard?"
"No. What is it?" asked the Major.
"Well, it's a rummy thing. He's usually awfully quiet and obedient. But
sometimes he gets very restless, breaks loose, and goes off on his own into
the jungle. After a week or two he comes back by himself, as quiet as a
lamb. But when the fit's on him nothing will hold him. He bursts the
stoutest ropes, breaks iron chains; and I believe he'd pull down the
_peelkhana_ if he couldn't get away."
"Oh, that often happens with domesticated male elephants," said Dermot.
"They have periodic fits of sexual excitement--get _must_, you know--and go
mad while these last."
"Oh, no. It's not that," replied the subaltern confidently. "Badshah
doesn't go _must_. It's something quite different. The jungle men around
here have a quaint belief about it. You see, Badshah was captured by the
Kheddah Department here years ago--twenty, I think.
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