206 EXTINCT MONSTERS. 
hours. The stream rolled over and tore up the soft wet ground 
like chaff, so that it was dangerous to go near the brink. While 
we were all quiet, we suddenly heard under our feet a sudden 
gurgling and stirring, which betrayed the working of the disturbed 
waters. Suddenly our jager, ever on the outlook, called loudly, 
and pointed to a singular and unshapely object, which rose and 
sank through the disturbed waters. I had already remarked it, 
but not given it any attention, considering it only driftwood. 
Now we all hastened to the spot on the shore, had the boat 
drawn near, and waited until the mysterious thing should again 
show itself. Our patience was tried, but at last a black, horrible, 
giant-like mass was thrust out of the water, and we beheld a 
colossal elephant’s head, armed with mighty tusks, with its long 
trunk moving in the water in an unearthly manner, as though 
seeking for something lost therein. Breathless with astonishment, 
I beheld the monster hardly twelve feet from me, with his half- 
open eyes yet showing the whites. It was still in good pre- 
servation. 
“¢A mammoth! a mammoth!’ broke out the Tschernomori ; 
and I shouted, ‘Here, quickly. Chains and ropes!’ I will 
go over our preparations for securing the giant animal, whose 
body the water was trying to tear from us. As the animal again 
sank, we waited for an opportunity to throw the ropes over his 
neck. This was only accomplished after many efforts. For 
the rest we had no cause for anxiety, for after examining the 
ground I satisfied myself that the hind legs of the Mammoth 
still stuck in the earth, and that the waters would work for us to 
unloosen them. We therefore fastened a rope round his neck, 
threw a chain round his tusks, that were eight feet long, drove 
a stake into the ground about twenty feet from the shore, and 
made chain and rope fast to it. The day went by quicker than 
I thought for, but still the time seemed long before the animal 
was secured, as it was only after the lapse of twenty-four hours 
that the waters had loosened it. But the position of the animal 
