Now, I thought, he may get away if the crocodiles don’t have him, for that devil will scarcely take to the water.  But this was just where I made a mistake, for with a mighty splash in went Jana too.  Also he was the better swimmer.  Marut soon saw this and swung round to the shore, by which manoeuvre he gained a little as he could turn quicker than Jana.

Back they came, Jana just behind Marut, striking at him with his great trunk.  They landed, Marut flew a few yards ahead doubling in and out among the rocks like a hare and, to my horror, making for where I lay, whether by accident or in a mad hope of obtaining protection, I do not know.

It may be asked why I had not taken the opportunity to run also in the opposite direction.  There are several answers.  The first was that there seemed to be nowhere to run; the second, that I felt sure, if I did run, I should trip up over the skeletons of those elephants or the stones; the third, that I did not think of it at once; the fourth, that Jana had not yet seen me, and I had no craving to introduce myself to him personally; and the fifth and greatest, that I was so paralysed with fear that I did not feel as though I could lift myself from the ground.  Everything about me seemed to be dead, except my powers of observation, which were painfully alive.

Of a sudden Marut gave up.  Less than a stone’s throw from me he wheeled round and, facing Jana, hurled at him some fearful and concentrated curse, of which all that I could distinguish were the words:  “The Child!”

Oddly enough it seemed to have an effect upon the furious rogue, which halted in its rush and, putting its four feet together, slid a few paces nearer and stood still.  It was just as though the beast had understood the words and were considering them.  If so, their effect was to rouse him to perfect madness.  He screamed terribly; he lashed his sides with his trunk; his red and wicked eyes rolled; foam flew from the cavern of his open mouth; he danced upon his great feet, a sort of hideous Scottish reel.  Then he charged!

I shut my eyes for a moment.  When I opened them again it was to see poor Marut higher in the air than ever he flew before.  I thought that he would never come down, but he did at last with an awesome thud.  Jana went to him and very gently, now that he was dead, picked him up in his trunk.  I prayed that he might carry him away to some hiding-place and leave me in peace.  But not so.  With slow and stately strides, rocking the deceased Marut up and down in his trunk, as a nurse might rock a baby, he marched on to the very stone where I lay, behind which I suppose he had seen or smelt me all the time.

For quite a long while, it seemed more than a century, he stood over me, studying me as though I interested him very much, the water of the lake trickling in a refreshing stream from his great ears on to my back.  Had it not been for that water I think I should have fainted, but as it was I did the next best thing—­pretended to be dead.  Perhaps this monster would scorn to touch a dead man.  Watching out of the corner of my eye, I saw him lift one vast paw that was the size of an arm-chair and hold it over me.