"Yes; look at Sree. Be ready to fire."
Harry's heart beat fast, and he sat there with his gun-barrels resting on the front of the howdah, ready to fire if the great cat came into view.
The elephant was shifting its weight from foot to foot, giving itself an awkward roll that would be rather bad for a marksman; but otherwise it made no further uneasy signs.
"Tiger," cried Phra, and Sree nodded sharply, before running some little distance on in a stooping position, displaying the activity of a boy, till he was nearly out of sight; but before he was quite so he turned sharply and ran back, stopping about a dozen yards in front of the elephant's head.
"Look, Sahibs," he said, pointing down, "tiger. He came out of the low bush just on your left, and trotted along to here, and then crossed to yonder, twenty paces farther, where he went in among the trees on your right."
"Come back, then, and mount," said Harry anxiously. "The brute may be crouching somewhere ready to spring on you."
"No, Sahib," said the man, smiling; "he has gone right away."
"How can you tell that?" asked Harry.
"Look at Sul, Sahib. He would not stand quietly like that if the tiger was near."
"Yes, that is right," said Phra quietly, and he bade the mahout tell the elephant to kneel.