"The whole scene was changed in an instant. Half a dozen elephants stumbled and fell, and the air was full of golden umbrellas, white cloths, yellow arms and legs, and gilded howdahs that fell with a crash. The rest of the elephants turned and dashed through the multitude, dropping their burdens as they ran, or brushing them off against the trees when they reached the edge of the forest; the horses took fright and scattered in all directions, some with riders and others with empty saddles; the ox-wagons were overturned, and as for the people on foot, they emulated the horses in the matter of rapid travelling. All that grand army was scattered in less time than I have taken to tell about it."
"That was what you call 'a stampede,' was it not?" said one of the boys.
"Exactly so," was the reply. "The army was stampeded by the shells that came so unexpectedly and frightened the animals, and when they began to run the men on foot naturally followed their example. The elephant is a timid beast in many things, and so is the horse, and when they take fright nothing can stop them. The elephant was employed in war before the invention of gunpowder, but since that explosive came into general use he has ceased to be of any value on the battlefield. The Burmese are not cowards, but their animals are, and probably the lesson of that and other occasions has taught them to leave the elephant behind when going to battle. The lesson was quite as pointed as the one of overturning their war-boats by the swell of a steamer, and you can be sure it has not been forgotten."
The scenery began to change as they passed the locality of this one-sided battle; the flat banks disappeared in many places, and low hills came into view, and by-and-by the low hills changed to higher ones. Most of the hills were wooded, and the low ground, wherever it occurred, was covered with rice or banana fields, or perhaps with custard-apple and mango trees. Occasionally they passed heaps of firewood that had been piled on the banks for the use of the steamers, exactly as it is piled on the banks of the Mississippi, and whenever they stopped to take in fuel the process of "wooding up" reminded the Doctor very forcibly of the same operation on the great river of North America.
A COMPOSITE CREW.
Among the odd craft they met was one that had a monkey and a parrot as part of the crew; the parrot was seated on the top of the mast, while the monkey amused himself by climbing over the sail and displaying a good deal of general activity. Evidently he desired to drive the parrot from her perch, but had a wholesome respect for her sharp and powerful beak.
