The next few days were spent in getting the elephants together , in walking the newly caught wild elephants up and down between a couple of tame ones to prevent them giving too much trouble on the downward march to the plains , and in taking stock of the blankets and ropes and things that had been worn out or lost in the forest . Petersen Sahib came in on his clever she-elephant Pudmini ; he had been paying off other camps among the hills , for the season was coming to an end , and there was a native clerk sitting at a table under a tree , to pay the drivers their wages . As each man was paid he went back to his elephant , and joined the line that stood ready to start . The catchers , and hunters , and beaters , the men of the regular Keddah , who stayed in the jungle year in and year out , sat on the backs of the elephants that belonged to Petersen Sahib 's permanent force , or leaned against the trees with their guns across their arms , and made fun of the drivers who were going away , and laughed when the newly caught elephants broke the line and ran about . Big Toomai went up to the clerk with Little Toomai behind him , and Machua Appa , the head tracker , said in an undertone to a friend of his , `` There goes one piece of good elephant stuff at least . 'T is a pity to send that young jungle-cock to molt in the plains . '' Now Petersen Sahib had ears all over him , as a man must have who listens to the most silent of all living things -- the wild elephant . He turned where he was lying all along on Pudmini 's back and said , `` What is that ? I did not know of a man among the plains-drivers who had wit enough to rope even a dead elephant . '' `` This is not a man , but a boy . He went into the Keddah at the last drive , and threw Barmao there the rope , when we were trying to get that young calf with the blotch on his shoulder away from his mother . '' Machua Appa pointed at Little Toomai , and Petersen Sahib looked , and Little Toomai bowed to the earth . `` He throw a rope ? He is smaller than a picket-pin . Little one , what is thy name ? '' said Petersen Sahib . Little Toomai was too frightened to speak , but Kala Nag was behind him , and Toomai made a sign with his hand , and the elephant caught him up in his trunk and held him level with Pudmini 's forehead , in front of the great Petersen Sahib . Then Little Toomai covered his face with his hands , for he was only a child , and except where elephants were concerned , he was just as bashful as a child could be . `` Oho ! '' said Petersen Sahib , smiling underneath his mustache , `` and why didst thou teach thy elephant that trick ?
Was it to help thee steal green corn from the roofs XXXXX the houses when the ears are put out to dry ? ''
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