"That was wise also. To make sure, and to teach me, a Baghela, Sher Bagh took us down wind from the drag next night, and the scent of the Men-kind came strong in our faces. 'Our enemies are there,' declared Bagh.
"Being a Baghela I thought this fine play, and by the cunning of my Sire we killed what we found tied in the Jungle, but never went back to the drag. Even once in the dark, as we hunted, hearing the grunt of a Goru, and going up wind to it, Sher Bagh knew that the Hunters were waiting in the sal and pipal trees over the bait, so we went back to the Nullah and rested on lean stomachs."
"Your Sire was too clever for them," commented Magh, as Tiger ceased speaking for an instant.
"Perhaps it was clever," answered Raj Bagh. "But in two days more something came to us that no Jungle Dweller can withstand: a full beat of the Jungles.
"Being but a Baghela," sighed Raj Bagh, "I did not know what it was when the beat commenced; I thought that the forest winds were in an evil temper, but Sher Bagh cried to Baghni, 'Quick! we must go far, for now comes the hate of the white-faced kind, for the beat is their way of a kill.' We lay quiet in our Nullah, thinking they might pass. 'Tap, tap, tap!' I heard on one side, much like the klonk, klonk! of Mis-gar (coppersmith bird). 'What is that?' I asked my Sire.
"'The sal trees cry because they are stricken by the Beaters,' he answered. 'Tum, tum, tum-m!' I heard from the other side of the Nullah. 'Is it the belling of a Nilgai?' I asked. 'The little Gonds who are of this beat call with their drums,' answered Sher Bagh. 'All the jungle is falling,' I cried. 'It is the coming of Hathi,' answered my Sire, 'for it is a beat of many Hathi. Come, Baghela, come, Baghni,' he called, and we stole like frightened Chinkara through the sal and pipal jungle.
"'To the Baghni-wali nulla!' (tigress valley) cried Sher Bagh to us as we followed. But as we sought to enter this place of many caves a Beater smote at us with the thunder-stick from a tree, but that was only to frighten us away, for Bagh whispered, 'The Beaters are not to make the kill.'
"'Here will be little spoor for them to follow,' growled Sher Bagh as we ran. Soon we thought we had lost those who sought our lives. As we rested for a little while in some thick, wild plum bushes they came all about us. There were many Hathi, and on three of the Hathi were little caves——"
"Haudas," corrected Elephant. "That is the way the Men-kind ride on my back when we are in the beat."
"And the Men had thunder-sticks with which they smote Sher Bagh and Baghni. 'Waw, waw-houk!' roared my Sire when he was struck—'Che-waugh!' he cried to me, 'flee, Baghela, while I charge.' With a rush he sprang on a big Hathi's nose, and I think he got even to the hauda, for the Hathi turned and ran, screaming with pain; and I, seeing this, broke from my cover and charged back through the Beaters who were on foot. Just in my path I saw one of the Beaters striking two sticks together. Being cross because of my hot pads, and what they had done to Sher Bagh, I seized this one, and took him with me.