And he said to them, "Little fathers." And he said, "To-day is perhaps the last we shall have need of, so to-day people would take a last leave of one another. He that will escape, will escape, and he that will die, will die; but he that shall escape, if I die, let him tell my mother and father not to grieve." And they said, "Come, master, let us go; we shall escape please God."
And they went on their knees till they arrived there in the shade where it was. And they said, "Give us a plan, master." And he said, "There is no plan, only let us fire all at once." And they fired all at once. And the elephant charged at them, and they threw away every man his gun which he had with him, even the clothes which they had on they thought heavy, and threw them away to run the better, and each man got to a tree and climbed it. The elephant went away and fell down some distance off.
And they remained every one on his tree from three o'clock until six in the morning; they had no food, they had no clothes, they sat as they were the day they were born.
The youth in his tree wept much, and he said, "I do not know death, but this is death to-day." And no one of them could see his companion. The youth wished to get down from the tree, but he feared and said, "Perhaps the nunda is there below, and will eat me." And his slaves, just in the same way, feared to get down, and said, "Perhaps the nunda is there below, and will eat us." And they were in a thick forest—there was no clear space.
Kiroboto had seen where the beast fell, but he was afraid to get down by himself. He said, "Perhaps there where it is fallen, it is alive still, and not yet dead; till he saw a dog come and smell it, and he knew that it was true it was dead.
