The Stolen White Elephant | Page 2

Mohammed Moist Alhammal
Jamsetjejeebhoy Dhuleep Sultan Ebu Bhudpoor."
"Very well. Given name?"
"Jumbo."
"Very well. Place of birth?"
"The capital city of Siam."
"Parents living?"
"No--dead."
"Had they any other issue besides this one?"
"None. He was an only child."
"Very well. These matters are sufficient under that head. Now please
describe the elephant, and leave out no particular, however
insignificant--that is, insignificant from your point of view. To me in
my profession there are no insignificant particulars; they do not exist."
I described he wrote. When I was done, he said:
"Now listen. If I have made any mistakes, correct me."
He read as follows:

"Height, 19 feet; length from apex of forehead insertion of tail, 26 feet;
length of trunk, 16 feet; length of tail, 6 feet; total length, including
trunk, and tail, 48 feet; length of tusks, 9 feet; ears keeping with these
dimensions; footprint resembles the mark left when one up-ends a
barrel in the snow; the color of the elephant, a dull white; has a hole the
size of a plate in each ear for the insertion of jewelry and possesses the
habit in a remarkable degree of squirting water upon spectators and of
maltreating with his trunk not only such persons as he is acquainted
with, but even entire strangers; limps slightly with his right hind leg,
and has a small scar in his left armpit caused by a former boil; had on,
when stolen, a castle containing seats for fifteen persons, and a
gold-cloth saddle-blanket the size of an ordinary carpet."
There were no mistakes. The inspector touched the bell, handed the
description to Alaric, and said:
"Have fifty thousand copies of this printed at once and mailed to every
detective office and pawnbroker's shop on the continent." Alaric retired.
"There--so far, so good. Next, I must have a photograph of the
property."
I gave him one. He examined it critically, and said:
"It must do, since we can do no better; but he has his trunk curled up
and tucked into his mouth. That is unfortunate, and is calculated to
mislead, for of course he does not usually have it in that position." He
touched his bell.
"Alaric, have fifty thousand copies of this photograph made the first
thing in the morning, and mail them with the descriptive circulars."
Alaric retired to execute his orders. The inspector said:
"It will be necessary to offer a reward, of course. Now as to the
amount?"
"What sum would you suggest?"

"To begin with, I should say--well, twenty-five thousand dollars. It is
an intricate and difficult business; there are a thousand avenues of
escape and opportunities of concealment. These thieves have friends
and pals everywhere--"
"Bless me, do you know who they are?"
The wary face, practised in concealing the thoughts and feelings within,
gave me no token, nor yet the replying words, so quietly uttered:
"Never mind about that. I may, and I may not. We generally gather a
pretty shrewd inkling of who our man is by the manner of his work and
the size of the game he goes after. We are not dealing with a pickpocket
or a hall thief now, make up your mind to that. This property was not
'lifted' by a novice. But, as I was saying, considering the amount of
travel which will have to be done, and the diligence with which the
thieves will cover up their traces as they move along, twenty-five
thousand may be too small a sum to offer, yet I think it worth while to
start with that."
So we determined upon that figure as a beginning. Then this man,
whom nothing escaped which could by any possibility be made to serve
as a clue, said:
"There are cases in detective history to show that criminals have been
detected through peculiarities, in their appetites. Now, what does this
elephant eat, and how much?"
"Well, as to what he eats--he will eat anything. He will eat a man, he
will eat a Bible--he will eat anything between a man and a Bible."
"Good very good, indeed, but too general. Details are necessary--details
are the only valuable things in our trade. Very well--as to men. At one
meal--or, if you prefer, during one day--how man men will he eat, if
fresh?"
"He would not care whether they were fresh or not; at a single meal he
would eat five ordinary men.

"Very good; five men; we will put that down. What nationalities would
he prefer?"
"He is indifferent about nationalities. He prefers acquaintances, but is
not prejudiced against strangers."
"Very good. Now, as to Bibles. How many Bibles would he eat at a
meal?"
"He would eat an entire edition."
"It is hardly succinct enough. Do you mean the ordinary octavo, or the
family illustrated?"
"I think