midday
Despite this prohibition -- so Dermot discovered -- many Bengalis had lately passed backwards and forwards across the frontier , a thing hitherto unheard of . That members of this timorous race should venture to enter such a lawless and savage country as Bhutan and that , having entered it , they lived to come back proved that there must be a strong understanding between many Bhutanese officials and a certain disloyal element in India . Dermot was returning through the forest from one of his excursions in the hills , when an opportunity was afforded him of repaying the debt that he owed to Badshah for the saving of his life . They had halted at midday , and the man , seated on the ground with his back to a tree , was eating his lunch , while the elephant had strayed out of sight among the trees in search of food . Beside Dermot lay his rifle and a double-barrelled shot gun , both loaded . Having eaten he lit a cheroot and was jotting down in his notebook the information that he had gathered that morning , when a shrill trumpet from the invisible Badshah made him grasp his rifle . Skilled in the knowledge of the various sounds that elephants make he knew by the brassy note of this that the animal was in deadly fear .