FRANK'S DISCOVERY: A "ROGUE" ELEPHANT.
Frank remembered hearing about rogue elephants in Ceylon and India, and asked if there was any difference between the Asiatic and the African elephant in this particular.
"Not much," was the reply; "though, perhaps, the African when he becomes a rogue is a trifle more vicious than his Asiatic brother. He is an elephant that has become separated from his herd and is obliged to roam by himself. No other elephant will associate with him, and he is an outcast, who can never hope for restoration to elephantine society. He is far bolder than any member of a herd, and is always a male, and one of the finest of his kind. Where another elephant would run away he will stand up and fight, and his sagacity is quite equal to his strength and courage."
Frank wished to know why the elephant became a rogue, or solitary wanderer, and he also asked from what the designation came.
"He is called a 'rogue' in English," was the reply, "because that is the literal translation of his Indian, Cingalese, and African name. He is a rogue because of his viciousness and his destructive ways: he comes into the plantations of the natives and destroys wantonly all that he cannot eat. Ordinary herd elephants will go away when they have satisfied their appetites, but a rogue will break down fruit-trees and trample whole acres of rice or other growing things solely for the pleasure of destroying them. It is a common remark that one rogue will do more damage than a dozen herd elephants.
"India is a country, as you know, where caste prevails among the people, and when a man does certain things, many of them trivial in our eyes, he loses his rank, or caste. For some things he may be reinstated on payment of a fine, which is proportioned to the extent of his offence; but for others there is no restoration, and he remains a pariah, or outcast, till his death.
"The people of India say that a rogue elephant has done something that drives him from his caste, and something for which there is no restoration. He may graze in the neighborhood of a herd, but under no circumstances will he be admitted to their company; even if he happens to be driven into a corral and entrapped with them he remains an outcast. While they are trembling with fear and clasping their trunks in expressions of grief, charging at the fence of the corral and making every effort to escape, they will have nothing to do with the rogue. They drive him away and refuse to permit him to enter their circle, and when he is bound and dragged off helpless they will assail him unless he is kept at a respectful distance.
"So don't venture near that rogue elephant," the captain continued, "as he would turn upon you if your shot was not instantly fatal, and you could not hope to get off as easily as we did from the whole herd of honest ones."
As they approached the Somerset River, or Victoria Nile, the ground became low and marshy, with long stretches of jungle and high grass that made it impossible to see more than a few yards in any direction, except upward at the sky. Even then there was not always a clear view, as the papyrus plants bent over the path and enclosed the travellers in a sort of natural arch. The opposite or south bank was higher, and consisted of a series of bluffs, which promised a firm footing. The swamp or marsh was exceedingly difficult for the horses; they sunk into the mud at every step, and two or three times Frank was obliged to dismount to allow his steed to extricate itself from a mud-hole. One of the dismountings was much more sudden than agreeable, as the youth was pitched over the animal's head without the least warning.
On the opposite bank was the military post of Foueira, the last station of the Egyptian troops in Central Africa, and on the borders of the territory of the King of Unyoro. It was the destination of Captain Mohammed and his company of soldiers, and for the present the destination of Frank Bassett. As Frank looked across the river—about a thousand feet in width—he saw a group of conical huts, surrounded by a stockade, and displaying the Egyptian flag from the summit of the central hut. A little to the left was another group of huts; and as a couple of elephants were standing near it Frank concluded that the second enclosure must be the stable for the huge beasts.