“Will you let go of the young sahib’s leg, oh first cousin of ten thousand demons?” shrieked the man.
“Will you let go of the young sahib’s leg, oh first cousin of ten thousand demons?” shrieked the man.
“Poomph!” growled the elephant; and the Hindu started on another tack, while a couple of his fellows, bearing buckets of water, came nearer.
“Oh, sweet son of a beautiful little mother, beloved eater of cane and sugar-grass, handsome pet of the ivory teeth! unclasp the young sahib’s leg, and thy mahout will paint thee in red and blue stripes with vermilion and indigo. He will gild thy tusks with gold, and put a velvet cloth with silken ropes on thy soft, mountain-like back, so that the elephants of the Rajah of Soojeepur shall be jealous, and run away maddened to the jungle when thou goest thy way.”
“Pooroon! pooroon!” grumbled the great beast.
“What! Not when thy beloved mahout promises thee that?” cried the mahout, sliding off the flesh-mountain to bend down and lift up the great flap of an ear and whisper gently, “Sweet gums shall be thine, and bananas, great melons and cucumbers.”
“Whoo—oomph!”
There was a kind of flesh-quake, the Hindu was thrown sideways, the trunk had been uncoiled, and the monster heaved up its huge bulk and stood over Dick, who had not moved, swaying its great head from side to side, and bringing its splendid great tusks within an inch or two every time it swept them by.