"Well, I want to start at daybreak to search the scene of the attack on us
and the place where I came on the Bhuttias. Will some of you fellows come
with me?"
"Rather. We'll all go," was the shout from all at the table.
"Thanks. We may round up some of the survivors."
"I say, Major, would you tell us a thing that's puzzled me, and I daresay
more than me?" ventured a young assistant manager, voicing the thoughts of
others present. "How the deuce did those wild elephants happen to turn up
just in the nick of time for you?"
"They were probably close by and the firing disturbed them," was the
careless answer.
"H'm; very curious, wasn't it, Major?" said Granger. "You know the habits
of the _jungli hathi_ better than most other people. Wouldn't they be far
more likely to run away from the firing than right into it?"
"As a rule. But when wild elephants stampede in a panic they'll go through
anything."
The assistant manager was persistent.
"But how did your elephant chance to join up with them?" he asked. "Judging
by the look of him he took a very prominent part in clearing your enemies
off."
"Oh, Badshah is a fighter. I daresay if there was a scrap anywhere near him
he'd like to be in it," replied Dermot lightly, and tried to change the
conversation.
But the others insisted on keeping to the subject.
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