1 But , son , I am angry that thou shouldst meddle in the business that belongs to these dirty Assamese jungle folk .
2 Kala Nag will obey none but me , so I must go with him into the Keddah , but he is only a fighting elephant , and he does not help to rope them .
3 So I sit at my ease , as befits a mahout , -- not a mere hunter , -- a mahout , I say , and a man who gets a pension at the end of his service .
4 Is the family of Toomai of the Elephants to be trodden underfoot in the dirt of a Keddah ?
5 Bad one !
6 Wicked one !
7 Worthless son !
8 Go and wash Kala Nag and attend to his ears , and see that there are no thorns in his feet .
9 Or else Petersen Sahib will surely catch thee and make thee a wild hunter -- a follower of elephant 's foot tracks , a jungle bear .
10 Bah !
11 Shame !
12 Go ! ''
13 Little Toomai went off without saying a word , but he told Kala Nag all his grievances while he was examining his feet .
14 `` No matter , '' said Little Toomai , turning up the fringe of Kala Nag 's huge right ear .
15 `` They have said my name to Petersen Sahib , and perhaps -- and perhaps -- and perhaps -- who knows ?
16 Hai !
17 That is a big thorn that I have pulled out ! ''
18 The next few days were spent in getting the elephants together , in walking the newly caught wild elephants up and down between a couple of tame ones to prevent them giving too much trouble on the downward march to the plains , and in taking stock of the blankets and ropes and things that had been worn out or lost in the forest .
19 Petersen Sahib came in on his clever she-elephant Pudmini ; he had been paying off other camps among the hills , for the season was coming to an end , and there was a native clerk sitting at a table under a tree , to pay the drivers their wages .
20 As each man was paid he went back to his elephant , and joined the line that stood ready to start .
21 The catchers , and hunters , and beaters , the men of the regular XXXXX , who stayed in the jungle year in and year out , sat on the backs of the elephants that belonged to Petersen Sahib 's permanent force , or leaned against the trees with their guns across their arms , and made fun of the drivers who were going away , and laughed when the newly caught elephants broke the line and ran about .	Keddah		Assamese|Hai|Keddah|Nag|Pudmini|Sahib|Toomai|days|mahout|right

