The elephant held him thus on high for one thrilling moment and then flung him to one side, as though he had been a bundle of straw instead of being a hulking big fellow weighing full two hundred pounds.
He fell upon the hard pavement with a terrible thud, and lay there so still that the appalled spectators thought he must be dead.
Nadine was the first to be at his side. The instant Nalla intervened she divined what would happen. More than once she had seen him pick up fierce dogs with that marvelous weapon of his, and throw them so far that they never returned to the attack.
"Oh! I hope he isn't dead!" she panted. "It would be dreadful if Nalla killed him."
The big gross body showed no sign of life, and the people crowded around it making all sorts of futile suggestions, but doing nothing, when a couple of gendarmes appeared, and ordered them to stand aside.
One of them then examined the man carefully, and, to Nadine's inexpressible relief, announced that he was not dead, only insensible, and he bade his comrade go for a surgeon.
In a few minutes the latter returned with a spectacled person who looked very wise and dignified, and proceeded to make a thorough examination of the insensible man.
"There is probably some concussion of the brain," he announced, "but not of a serious character. How was he injured?"
Half-a-dozen began to speak at once in response, but the next moment gave way to Nadine, who described what had happened in a clear correct manner.
"Hum! hum!" murmured the surgeon. "A very odd accident indeed in this quarter of the globe, and the rascal richly deserved what befell him. Where is this highly intelligent elephant? I should like to make his acquaintance."