Chapter 3: The Dawn Patrol
The next day, things have been pretty quiet. The sun is beginning to shine, and Bagheera and Mishti is still sleeping on the tree. More like Mishti is sleeping on Bagheera. The two continue to sleep until the ground begins to shake and loud thumping begins to be heard.
Marching ahead is a group of elephants that are in a straight line. There is a gray elephant with large horns holding a stick like abaton that is the leader of the group. They elephants march and they chant.
Elephants:
Hup, two, three, four
Keep it up Two, three, four
Hup, two, three, four
Keep it up Two, three, four
Hup, two, three, four
The loud shaking and chanting soon wakes Mishti up. She stretches her arms and lets out a yawn. She turns to the ground to see what the noise is.
She smiles, and says, "A parade."
"Oh, no! The Dawn Patrol again," Bagheera tiredly says.
"The Dawn Patrol?" Mishti questions.
"They're Colonel Hathi and his herd. They do this everyday," Bagheera says.
Then Bagheera has fallen back to sleep. While he sleeping, Mishti grabs a vine and swings herself back down to the ground. Then runs towards the marching elephant to check them out.
Colonel Hathi calls out, "Company, sound off!"
Colonel Hathi and Herd:
Oh, the aim of our patrol
Is a question rather droll
For to march and drill
Over field and hill
Then all together blow their trunks like horns.
Colonel Hathi:
Is a military goal
Herd:
Is a military goal
Mishti manages to get close to the elephants to see them marching by.
Colonel Hathi and Herd:
With a hup Two, three, four
Dress it up two, three, four
By the ranks or single file
Over every jungle mile
Mishti continues to watch the elephants, but notices a small gray elephant with dark hair on it's head.
Colonel Hathi and Herd:
Oh, west amp and crush through the underbrush
This time the baby elephant blows it's trumpet.
Little Elephant:
In the military style
Herd:
In the military style
Mishti quickly runs towards the baby elephant. Soon enough, she is walking alongside him.
Mishti says, "Hello. My name is Mishti. What are you doing?"
"Shh! My name is Junior and I'm drilling," The little elephant name Junior says, quietly.
"Can I do it too?" Mishti whispers.
"Sure. Just do what I do. But don't talk in ranks. It's against regulations," Junior says.
Mishti then gets behind Junior and begins to join the him. He gets on his hands and is walking on all fours.
Hathi calls out, "To the rear! March!"
Mishit is busy matching that Junior turns around and is pushing Mishti backwards.
"The other way. Turn around," Junior says.
Mishti turns around and march with the other elephants.
Colonel Hathi:
Hup, two, three, four
Keep it up Two, three, four
Just then the Colonel shouts, "To the rear! Ho!"
Then the elephant turn around and marching in the opposite direction. Mishti continues to march in the same direction. She then turns her head to see the elephants are marching away from her. She stands on two and quickly catch up with the elephants.
"Company, halt!" The Colonel shouts.
Mishti ends up bumping into Junior and falls down on her back.
Junior turns his head to the back, and says, "That means stop."
The elephant herd has stop in a straight line.
The Colonel calls out, "Company, left face!"
All the elephants turn to the left and are facing front.
A female elephant tiredly says, "March, march, march. My feet are killing me."
"I'm puttin' in for a transfer to another herd," The elephant next to her whispers.
Hathi shouts, "Silence in the ranks!"
Just then, the elephants stand straight. Hathi observe the elephant troops in his case. He then steps behind.
"Dress up that line," Hathi says.
The elephants stand straight, but the female one. Hathi hits her with the stick to get her straight.
"Pull it in, Winifred," Hathi says.
The elephant colonel walks towards the front.
He then shouts, "Inspection! Arms!"
The elephants including the young one stand straight and stick their trunks in the air. Mishti has her arms together and her head is down.
Junior whispers, "Stick your nose out."
"Like this?" Mishti asks, lifting her head up.
"That's right," Junior says.
Hathi begins to inspect his elephant troops. He inspect the one next to the female elephant. He takes a look at the inside of his muzzle.
He tisk, and says, A dusty muzzle."
"Soldier, remember, in battle, that trunk can save your life," Harthi adds.
He taps the truck with the stick, and says, "Take good care of it, my man."
"Yes, sir!" the elephant says.
"Very good. Carry on," Hathi says.
Hathi then inspect the next elephant who is chewing on some leaves. He also has a darker gray color and yellow horns. Hathi gives him firm stare.
Then he says, "Let's have a little more spit and polish on those bayonets."
"Yes, sir," The darker elephant.
"The Spit of Law. That's the way I earned my commission in the Maharajah's fifth pachyderm brigade. Back in '88, it was." Hathi says
But then asks, "Uh, or was it?"
"Here it comes. The Victoria Cross bit again," the elephant, Winifred says.
Then Hathi tells the story, "It was then I received the Victoria Cross... for bravely above and beyond the call of duty. Those were the days. Discipline. Discipline was the thing."
"Builds character, and all that sort of thing, you know, "Hathi adds as he has his baton on the ground, and leans over a little.
Just then he hears a snap. He looks to see he has break a small part of the baton.
"Oh, oh, where was I?" Hathi asks himself.
Then he remembers, "Oh, yes. Inspection."
He looks at one of them, and says, "Well, very good.
He then turns to the light gray one having a big smile on his face.
Hathi says, "Wipe off that silly grin, soldier. This is the army."
That cause the elephant to frown in response.
He goes on to the next one who is watching a fly buzzing close to him. Then the fly lands on the front of his face. Hathi uses the baton to swat it away.
"Eyes front," Hathi says.
Making the elephant eyes focus.
Then he goes to the next elephant who has messy hair on his hat
"Lieutenant, that haircut is not regulation. Rather on the gaudy side, don't you think?" Hathi says, ruffling his hair until it's straight up.
He then uses the stick to swat most of the hair off, making it a buzz cut.
"There. That's better," Hathi says.
He then comes to the next one, "And as for you…"
He notices that the elephant is down below. He looks down to see the baby elephant.
"Oh, there you are." Hathi says. Then lets you a small laugh.
Then he says, "Let's keep those heels together, shall we, son?"
Junior looks down to see that his legs aren't together.
"Okay, Pop. Sir," Junior says. Then puts his legs and feet together with his trunk in the air.
"Yes, now that's better," Hathi says.
He then turns to see Mishti standing completely still
"Well, a new recruit, eh?" Hathi says, seeing the Mishti and think she is new to the troop
He then notices something off, "I say, what happened to your trunk?"
He then taps the nose of Mishit's face, making her move.
"Hey! Stop that!" Mishti angrily says.
Seeing who Mishit really is, Hathi angrily shouts, "A man cub!"
He then grabs Mishti by the trunk and says, "Oh, this is treason! Sabotage! I'll have no man cub in my jungle!"
He then puts Mishit back on the ground.
Mishti stands up, and says, "I-It's not your jungle!"
Just as the tension is beginning to grow, Bagheera hears the conversation and jumps on the branches to reach them
"Hold it! Hold it!" Bagheera calls out
Bagheera reaches the branch that is close to Hathi, and says, "I can explain, Hathi."
"Colonel Hathi, If you please, sir," Hathi says.
"Oh, yes, yes. Colonel Hathi." Bagheera says, correctly
Then he says, "Uh, the man cub is with me. I'm taking him back to the man village."
"To stay?" Hathi asks.
"You have the word of Bagheera," Bagheera says.
"Good," Hathi says.
He turns to Mishti and says, "And remember, an elephant never forgets."
Mishti then crosses her arms with a displeased look on her face.
Hath walks away, and says to himself, "I don't know what the army's coming to these days. These young whippersnappers, who do they think they are?"
The loudly says, "Let's get on with it!"
The elephants wake up from their rest
"Right face! Hahti shouts.
The elephants turn to the side and end up shoving each other.
Hathi shouts, "Forward march!"
Then the elephant herd begin to march away. At the front Hathi and Winifred are standing side by side.
Winifred calmly questions, "Dear, haven't you forgotten something?"
"Nonsense, Winifred old girl. An elephant never forgets," Hathi says.
Winifred says, "Well, you just forgot our son."
"Uh, uh, son... Son? Son! Hathi says, realizing it.
He turns to see his son, Junior is with the young girl cub.
"Oh, yes, yeah, yeah! Quite right," Hathi quickly says.
Then calls out to the soldiers, "To the rear! March!"
The elephants turn around and begin to march back.
Junior talks to Mishit about her father being the colonel.
"When I grow up, I'm gonna be a Colonel, just like my... " Junior happily says.
But his father Hathi interrupts and picks him up with his trunk, "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times…"
Junior looks over him, and shouts, "Oh! Pop! Look out!"
The elephants continue marching until they see Hathi stops. Soon enough, all the elephants begin to bump into each other and shove each other to the ground. The last one bump into the back of the elephant and bents the trunk. Hathi is on the ground while Winifred is on him.
Junior is sitting on the ground, and says, "Gee, Pop, you forgot to say 'halt.'"
Soon Mishti begins laughing, "Sorry, I know I shouldn't laugh, but he said an elephant never forgets."
He then starts laughing and sits on the rock, but stops to see him looking at her with a stern look on her face.
"It's not funny," Bagheera says.
"Now let's get out of here quick before anything else happens," Bagheera adds as he jumps off the rock and head into the jungle.
Mishti chase after him. Soon, they both come a cross a river with a log that goes over the river forming a bridge.
Bagheera stands on the tree and says, "Now no more running off Mishti. For now on, just follow me to the man village or I'll leave you out here alone."
"Then leave! I'm not going!" Mishti sternly says.
Then she marches off in a huff. Bagheera sighs as he shakes his head to see her marching off. Mishti continues to walk alone in the jungle. She then lets out a sigh of sadness and guilt.
"Maybe I was being a little harsh," Mishti mutters to herself.
Mishit continues to walk around the jungle alone. She climb over rocks and jump over some logs.
Bagheera is standing on the branch. He knows that it's not right to leave Mishti alone, but she is being stubborn. Then again he remembers that it has taken time for Mishti to grieve after what happened to her human mother and home. He figures that some grieves are not easy to fix, especially it happened when Mishti was very young.
Soon Mishti then sees a big rock and decides to sit down for a little while. She then looks at a mark on her left arm. It's what left of the burn mark she has on the day of the fire. She really doesn't feel like she's ready to go to the man village at all.