Mukna turned to the right to find a way of escape to the jungle; but all the gaps on the right were guarded by bull elephants. Mukna turned to the left; but all the gaps on the left were guarded likewise. Mukna turned in all directions; but in all directions the gaps were guarded. He could not escape. Then the elephant master recovered from his fright. He stepped out from behind the tree where he had hidden. For the first time he gave a command. "March!" he cried to the elephants. And the elephants marched toward Mukna. They came nearer and nearer, till they formed a ring around Mukna near the middle of the open space. Mukna looked frantically this way and that way; but he saw a ring of elephants all round him, a dozen yards away; and the tusks of all were pointed toward him like a row of bayonets. Then the elephant master and the royal party came and stood just outside the ring, at the back of the elephants. _The Trial of the Criminal Elephant--as in a Court of Law_ There they held a trial, just as in a court of law. Mukna was accused of two crimes: first, disobedience; second, attempted murder. A man was appointed to defend him at the trial, just as in a court of law a criminal may have a lawyer to defend him. The elephant master presided at the trial of Mukna. He was the judge. When the trial began, Mukna's keeper first gave evidence; that is, he said that Mukna had disobeyed his order, not only once, but three times. Then several other keepers came forward as witnesses, and gave evidence; that is, they said that they _saw_ Mukna disobey the order. Then the man who was appointed to defend Mukna spoke for him; he was called the elephant counsel. The elephant counsel argued that Mukna must have been ill-treated to make him disobedient. So he questioned all the keepers. But all the keepers said that Mukna had not been ill-treated to make him disobedient. "He may not have been ill-treated just that minute," the elephant counsel still argued. "But was he not ill-treated before? _An elephant has a long memory; he never forgets an injury, or an act of kindness._ An elephant has been known to remember both injury and kindness for more than twenty years. Then did not Mukna's keeper _ever_ ill-treat him?" But all the other men who were in charge of all the elephants gave evidence that Mukna's keeper had never ill-treated him; nor had anybody else ill-treated him--except that Mukna had been punished before for bad temper by being deprived of delicacies in his food. So Mukna had no true cause for disobeying the order that day. Thus the charge of disobedience was proved against Mukna. Then came the second crime of which Mukna was accused, namely, attempted murder. And that was very quickly proved, as everybody there had just seen that crime. So the elephant master, who was the judge, pronounced sentence of punishment on Mukna. Mukna was ordered to receive ten blows for the disobedience, and ten blows more for the attempted murder.