Kala Nag hit the new elephant in the ribs and knocked the wind out of him, as Big Toomai said, “We have swept the hills of wild elephants at the last catch. It is only your carelessness in driving. Must I keep order along the whole line?”
“Hear him!” said the other driver. “ We have swept the hills! Ho! ho! You are very wise, you plains-people. Anyone but a mudhead who never saw the jungle would know that they know that the drives are ended for the season. Therefore all the wild elephants tonight will—but why should I waste wisdom on a river-turtle?”
“What will they do?” Little Toomai called out.
“ Ohé , little one. Art thou there? Well, I will tell thee, for thou hast a cool head. They will dance, and it behooves thy father, who has swept all the hills of all the elephants, to double-chain his pickets tonight.”
“What talk is this?” said Big Toomai. “For forty years, father and son, we