The chief priest admitted Davis to the royal stables; he decided that Barnum & Bailey must have a Sacred White Elephant. Since it was considered an act of the worst religious profanation for one of the Sacred White Elephants to leave Burmah or Siam, it was necessary for Davis to act with care and patience. He made a friend of the prime minister of Burmah, whose double task was to keep the King always supplied with money and to restrain the nation from rebellion. The tasks were daily growing more incompatible, and Davis hinted that he knew a way by which the King’s treasury would be richer by $50,000. The prime minister was anxious for the details, but Davis allowed several weeks of economic worry to pass, in order that the prime minister might become frantically interested. Meanwhile, he met King Theebaw several times in audiences, and the King was delighted with Davis’s American vivacity. Davis learned about the court that the prime minister was beginning to abandon the interests of the King, who was headed for ruin, and was thinking of his own pocket, and one day Davis bluntly offered the prime minister $75,000 for one of the Sacred White Elephants. The prime minister answered that he valued his life at more than $75,000, and Davis changed the subject for several weeks. Finally the prime minister was persuaded that a Sacred White Elephant could be smuggled out of Burmah without any hint of his part in the transaction. Davis and Gaylord chartered a wheel steamer at Rangoon and hired fifteen Mohammedans as their crew, for Mohammedans laugh at the sanctity of the White Elephant. The distance from the royal stables to the wharf was three-quarters of a mile. A docile white elephant was chosen, and he was painted red and blue to disguise him. The real Sacred White Elephant is not white, but a pinkish gray, differing only slightly in color from the ordinary elephant, and often distinguishable only by a few pink spots. The Sacred White Elephant was covered with trappings and embroidered cloths. When night came, the animal, whose name was Toung Taloung, was led through the streets to the wheel steamer. It was then a comparatively simple and safe matter to get him to Liverpool, and thence to New York. While the Sacred White Elephant was en route to New York, Barnum, his partners, and his press agents made preparations for his enthusiastic reception. A prize of $500 was offered for the best poem commemorating the arrival in this country of the first Sacred White Elephant to be seen by profane eyes. This was the method of publicity Barnum had found so efficacious in the matter of Jenny Lind. The $500 were finally divided among three of the competitors, and one of the successful poets was Joaquin Miller, the poet of the Sierras, who apparently needed $500 in a hurry. His contribution read: THE SACRED WHITE ELEPHANT--TOUNG TALOUNG By JOAQUIN MILLER