Adventure, July 1, 1928 — page 54: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

48 CLARK BROCKMAN was back with the bottles and-a glass. Sommerfield poured himself a stiff drink and gulped it down. The boy’s eyes opened in amazement. “The Nai drinks, yes, but he does not go at it with both feet in the trough as the Americans do,” he said to himself. Be- hind the tent he gave vent to his surprise. “Bad news from Muang Nawk—the foreign country—” he announced, and discussed the possible nature of the news with the cook and coolies. When Sommerfield had finished his let- ters he ripped the wrappers from the six copies of the Bangkok Times, arranged them in chronological order and started to read. The lurid details of the strike in England, and the general unemployment situation offered a strange fascination. He was-reading a description of how col- lege students were running the busses in London, when one of the men from the elephant camp rushed into the clearing. “Sir, Father Eclipse of the Moon is on must. Maa! he is as terrible asa cholera breeding spirit. He has been tied, but he is breaking loose and we can do nothing.” Sommerfield’s first impulse was to say that he did not care what happened, but he smothered the idea. He was still in charge of the work on the Me Mai. Father Eclipse of the Moon was the great tusker who had succeeded in breaking the stacks of logs that had formed in the stream during the high water and had made it possible to float the logs: down the river. They had expected the tusker to go on must. Black oil had been oozing from his must holes for several days, but during the rise in the stream, Red Moon, his rider, had been able to control him. “Where is he?” demanded Sommerrfield. “Tied to a tree in the elephant camp,” replied the native, “but he is breaking loose and we can not get near him.” “Has Nai Kow called in the other ele- phants?” “No, sir, we are all trying to get a rope around his hind legs.” “Has that descendant of stupid buf- faloes never heard that trained elephants can hold a wild one while he is being tied? Tell him to call in the other elephants. Hurry!” The man disappeared down the jungle trail on the run. Sommerfield picked up his heavy walking stick and followed more leisurely, but at a rapid walk. Before he reached the camp he could hear the bellowings and trumpetings of the great tusker as he struggled to break loose from the bonds that held him. Now and then he could hear the shout of one of the natives. HEN Sommerfield came into the clearing of the elephant camp, he saw Father Eclipse of the Moon standing beneath a great tree. He was bellowing and growling. His mammoth head swung from side to side, his ears flapped, and his tail lashed angrily. Around him a group of natives in their blue, red bordered suits and black tur- bans were busily engaged in getting in each other’s way, but keeping clear of the elephant. “Scions of generations of pariah hounds, shut up,” commanded Sommerfield as soon as he reached the group. The men stopped their shouting and waited for orders. “Have you sent for the other ele- phants?” Sommerfield asked of Nai Kow, the headman of the camp, who Som- merfield insisted was the living proof of the soundness of the Darwinian theory. “Yes, sir. I sent six men to find them and ordered them to come quickly.” Nai Kow’s beady little eyes shifted as hespoke. “Do you think he can get loose, Red Moon?” Sommerfield asked the great tusker’s rider, who had been darting in almost under the elephant’s feet in at- tempts to slip a noose over its hind legs. Red Moon was tall for a native, broad shouldered and muscular. He was so quick, energetic and resourceful that Sommerfield thought he must have some Chinese blood in him. “Sir, last night I hobbled his front feet and chained them to the big tree. ;Then I tied his two hind feet to those two trees. I knew he would be like a cholera spirit comnlicloooks.com