With the capture of the great herd, the real work of Sahib Anderson and his native helpers had just begun. Capturing the elephants had been hard and dangerous work, costing them two lives and six wounded men, but the breaking would take months. While it might not be so dangerous as the capture, yet it was full of thrills.
This will be realized when we consider the great size of these elephants and that they were furious at being taken in this way.
The very first thing that the Sahib and his men did was to cut some holes in the bamboo between the posts and coax out the little elephants, that is, those that had been born that year, as there was much danger that they would be crushed or trodden to death in the wild melee inside the corral.
The very first of these youngsters to escape from the corral was Baby Elephant, whose fortunes we have been following. He had been separated from his mother, wedged in at the very centre of the corral, and he was quite frantic at the loss of his mother and the great crowding and pushing. Never in all his life had he seen such confusion, and he did not know what it was all about. He did not seem at all afraid of the Sahib and his men. In fact, he was quite curious about them and went up to them freely.
Little Ali was delighted to have a young elephant where he could see it and put his hands on it, and the boy's heart went out at once to the small elephant, and to humor him, and because he felt sorry for the lad who had so recently lost his father, the Sahib told Ali that he could call Baby Elephant his own, so the Malay boy took the small elephant to his heart and the two became as good companions as a boy and a pony might have been.
The first thing that the men did was to try to feed the baby elephants. They secured some cows' milk, and then held Baby Elephant and put his trunk into the milk. At the same time. Sahib Anderson squirted milk into his mouth with a squirtgun. This gave Baby Elephant to understand that the milk came, when his trunk was first put into the milk and then into his own mouth.
Little by little they taught the small elephant to suck up the milk into his trunk and then to squirt it into his mouth. They finally coaxed out nine other baby elephants from the corral. But to Ali, Baby Elephant was the best of them all. He would play with him by the hour. In fact, all the baby elephants were very playful, inquisitive little chaps.
They poked about into everything in the camp with their inquiring trunks. Baby Elephant finally got so he would follow Ali about like a dog, and would go with him far from camp. This filled the boy with childish delight.
"He know me, he love me! He know I am his master," the boy would say excitedly to the Sahib, at which the white man would smile and encourage the play.
The mature elephants were allowed to remain in the corral for nearly a week without any food in order that they might be reduced in strength and fierceness so that they could be handled more easily. It was rather harsh treatment, but the training and the breaking of all wild animals is usually harsh. Few people realize the harsh lessons which go into the making of a trick animal, with the possible exception of a dog or a horse. Most of the large animals have to be coerced, and handled through fear.
Finally a small pen which would hold just one elephant was built up against the gate, and one by one the elephants were allowed to enter it, food having been placed to toll them inside. In this small stall the elephant could not turn about or even move. So while he ate ravenously of the bamboo tips which had been provided for him, the knee and the foot hobbles were put on him. These were strong bands which went about the legs, with ropes running from the fore to the hind legs. If he started to run, he would tumble down. In fact he could not run with the hobbles on. He could just scuff along miserably. From this small pen, the elephants were led one at a time to the stocks which the men had been two weeks in building. This was a large enclosure with thirty or forty individual stalls.
The method of leading an elephant to the stocks was most interesting. Ropes were tied to his forelegs and his hind legs, and also to his trunk, and six men were put on each rope to hold on for dear life. For it might mean some of their lives if the elephant got away.
Even so, the Sahib's deadly thunder-stick was always in readiness if the great beast got to killing the men and could not be controlled. Before they started with the first elephant, a double row of stakes was driven in the ground along the way the elephant should be led, and he went between the stakes. The ropes which the men held were passed over these stakes, in the same way a derrick is staked down by guy-ropes. So the men had to furnish only half the pull upon the elephant, and the stake did the rest.
This was the only way that the twenty-four men could hold the elephant, and even so, some of them got away. Arrived at the stocks, the elephant was guided to his particular stall and his head secured between two large posts whieh had been set in the ground for that purpose. A pole was later set up on either side of him, and one behind his hind legs and in front of his hind legs, so that he was quite secure.
The elephants were kept in the stocks for about two weeks before any effort was made to take them out or to break them. During this time they were fed those things that they best like, and petted very freely by the men. They were given to understand that good behavior on their part brought rewards, while disobedience or temper brought swift and terrible punishment. These great beasts are very clever, and quick to learn from object-lessons like these.
The first one of the elephants to be brought forth for breaking was Baby Elephant's mother. She was first hobbled with only the knee-hobbles. That would give her more chance to move about.
Ropes were fastened to both her legs and trunk, as they had been when she was guided to the stocks, but this time, the men did not pass the ropes over the stakes in the ground, but relied upon their strength to hold her. For a few minutes after the old elephant, one of the largest the Sahib had ever seen, came out of the stocks there was a most lively time. She rushed first this way and then that, trying to get at her trainers, and also to break away from the ropes.
Her strength was titanic, and the men stumbled and slid, and the rattan ropes slipped through their hands. Once she nearly trampled several men to death and they were obliged to take a turn around a near-by tree with the rope. Just as the training was going on most furiously and the old elephant was trumpeting and bellowing with rage, a terrified little figure appeared on the scene. It was Baby Elephant himself, and he was frantic at what was happening to his mother. He trumpeted and squeaked continuously, and constantly got in the way. Finally the Sahib had one of the men catch him and lead him away into the jungle and little Ali followed and tried to comfort the small elephant, but it was some time before he would be consoled.
Baby Elephant's mother was the very hardest of all the herd to break. She had been the leader of the herd for so long, and had so enjoyed her own way about everything, that she could not get it into her head that she in turn must submit and must be governed.
Half a dozen men always followed after her, beating her with rattans. It was rather cruel, and made her frantic, but this was a part of the training that should break her stubborn spirit. Finally when Sahib Anderson had become discouraged, and had thought he would have to resort to the thunder-stick, Baby Elephant's mother gave in. She announced her surrender by a pathetic bellow, and from that time on she was a changed creature, always trying to understand her breakers, and to do their bidding.
If an elephant still refused to continue to give in after many severe lessons, it was taken away into the jungle and shot. The Sahib knew if the elephant would not submit, it would always be a menace and never would be well trained. It was not deemed wise to let any of the elephants which had been captured go, as they did so much damage in the rice-fields.
So day after day and week after week the breaking of the elephant herd went on. Most of the tuskers, that is, the male elephants with heavy tusks, were shot. Their tusks were worth hundreds of dollars, more than the elephants were worth alive for show purposes, so this was the easiest way. But nearly all the female elephants and some of the small males were finally broken.
They were taught to go ahead, to stop, to turn to the right and left, and to back, as well as to kneel down. This was so that men could get upon their backs, or so a howdah or any other load could be placed upon them.
Finally, after eight months of the most arduous work that the men had ever experienced, the herd was all broken, and the Sahib began making preparations for the trip to Singapore, where he would ship all his captives either to Germany or to America.
As the preparations went forward, a great sense of sadness came over little Ali. He had come fairly to worship the Sahib. He followed his every movement and listened breathlessly for his every word. To the small brown boy, the white man was as a god. Finally Ali was allowed to sleep at the Sahib's camp as the time for departure drew near.
One evening about a week before the time set for the journey, Ali very much surprised and distressed the Sahib by a strange announcement. He went up to the white man and put his small hand on his with the greatest confidence and said simply, "When the Sahib go, Ali will go. Ali has no father. Ali's father is dead. Sahib will be Ali's father. Ali will go with Sahib to America. He be Ali's father."
The words were so simple and so trustful and the boy had such an assurance that the Sahib was speechless for several seconds. Then he drew the boy close to him and said kindly, "I would like to take you, Ali, if I could. You are a good boy and I like you much. But I can't. You see America is different from this country. You would be lonesome. You would not be happy."
"I not be lonesome where the Sahib is," said Ali. "I would be happy. I cannot be happy again where he is not. I have no father. You are my father."
Vainly the Sahib tried to think of some way out of the difficulty but there seemed to be none. At last he was obliged to tell Ali firmly that he could not go with him.
At these words from his god all the joy and life seemed to go out of the little brown boy. Do what Sahib Anderson would to cheer him up, he could not rally his spirits. Finally in sheer desperation, because he really felt some responsibility for Ali, because his father had been killed in his service, the Sahib hit upon a novel plan. It would cost him a lot of money, but he was a generous man and he dearly loved children, so he determined to make this sacrifice. He would give Ali Baby Elephant for his very own. The small elephant would be worth several hundred dollars in the United States, but he could not bear to see the boy who had been his boon companion so broken-hearted.
When the Sahib finally made the proposition to Ali, he was delighted with the way in which the boy regained his spirits. The loss of Baby Elephant had weighed almost as much upon his young mind as had the loss of the Sahib. So he thanked the white man with tears in his eyes.
The evening before the great cavalcade started Sahib Anderson said good-bye to both Ali and Baby Elephant and sent one of his men with them to the Malay village near by, where Ali was to live with his uncle. This seemed to be a fine arrangement, but they had not consulted Baby Elephant himself.
He had very strong ideas as to whom he belonged and where his place was in the world. He went along all right and seemed well satisfied to stay with Ali in the Malay village. All through the evening Ali petted and played with him and fed him sugar-cane tips and other dainties that he liked. Finally he tied him with a rattan rope and fastened the rope to a strong stake, near the bamboo hut where he was to sleep himself. He said goodnight to Baby Elephant about eight o'clock and went to his own bed, thinking what a fine time he would have on the morrow playing with his chum.
But about midnight Baby Elephant, having been sleeping rather restlessly, awoke and suddenly realized that he was alone. His mother by whose side he had always slept was not there. He had been so taken up playing with Ali that he had not thought of it before. But now it grew upon him with alarming rapidity and finally settled into a sense of panic and fear.
At first he went up and down the length of his rope several times, then he began straining at it. Finally he put all his strength against it and it did not give. Then he became very angry, and pulled still more desperately. After finding that it did no good to strain suddenly on the rope, he settled down for business and braced his sturdy little legs and laid his full weight against the rope. For five minutes he strained, bending lower and lower to the ground. Finally the stake pulled up so suddenly that he went over on his head. But this was nothing, for he picked himself up hurriedly and without even looking towards the hut where Ali slept, he started at his shambling pace towards the Sahib's camp. He knew the way back as well as a dog would have known it tie arrived at the camp about an hour after daylight. Here he found that all were gone. The Sahib's cavalcade had started two hours before to avoid the heat. But Baby Elephant was not dismayed, for he soon found the tracks of the elephant herd, and he shuffled away after them determined to find his mother if he had to run his legs off.
About an hour after Baby Elephant left the Malay village, Ali awoke and crept carefully outside the hut to see that Baby Elephant was all right. At first, when he saw he was missing he thought he must be dreaming and rubbed his eyes and looked again. But it was true, for he finally found the stake-hole. His chum was gone.
Little Ali did not cry out. Instead he went silently into the hut and got his sandals and his clothes, and dressing hurriedly outside he started at a dog-trot towards the Sahib's camp. He knew full well that Baby Elephant had gone back home, so he followed like a brown shadow. The rhythmic spat of his sandals kept time to his impatient thoughts. He would find Baby Elephant or drop by the way.