It was so violent the beasts
dropped upon their knees forward.
Then they began to twist their trunks together, and buck with their tusks.
For some minutes the giants wrestled together, but the combat proved to be
of brief duration. The party could see that one of them was getting the
worst of it, and was inclined to "hedge." In fact, he had had enough of it;
but he was too wise to abandon his tactics when it was time for him to
retreat. Mustering all his power, he made a desperate effort, and succeeded
in forcing the other back enough to turn his huge body without exposing his
flank to the tusks of the enemy, and then beat a hasty retreat.
The vanquished brute was removed from the arena, and the victor remained
alone on the field he had won; but he had only come to the beginning of his
troubles, for there was a second act to the affair. The men, who were armed
with whips, fireworks, red cloths, and other instruments of torment,
assailed him. They pricked him with the javelins, shook the red banners in
his face, and fizzed the pyrotechnics before his eyes. They tormented the
poor creature till he was furious. He had no adequate weapon for this
unequal and unfair warfare.
He chased one assailant and then another, being as often turned aside from
his intended victims by the thorning of the other tormentors. As he became
a little more accustomed to the game, he ceased to be diverted from his
victim and confined his attention to only one.
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