But the sweetmeat seller in the camp lent him a little tom-tom -- a drum beaten with the flat of the hand -- and he sat down , cross-legged , before Kala Nag as the stars began to come out , the tom-tom in his lap , and he thumped and he thumped and he thumped , and the more he thought of the great honor that had been done to him , the more he thumped , all alone among the elephant fodder .