246 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



"On I rushed at top speed. The shuffling 

 grew louder and louder every second, for she was 

 fast overtaking me. But that tree grew nearer 

 and nearer with each step. Just then Kongoni 

 shouted: 



"'Pacey I pacey I Bwana ! ' (' Hurry! hurry! 

 Master!') and I knew that she must be crowd- 

 ing me closely. Even should I reach the tree 

 ahead of her, evidently there would not be time 

 to climb it before she twined her snake-like trunk 

 about my body and hurled me to the ground. 



"What was beneath that bank? Was it a 

 drop off of twenty feet to a mass of jagged 

 rocks or into the water? The elephant would 

 surely kill me if I did not make the jump, so 

 what was the difference? If the river was deep 

 and ran in flush with the bank, as from the top 

 of our perch in the tree it appeared to do, and 

 I could only outdistance my pursuer, there was 

 nothing to fear, for I was an expert swimmer. 



"It certainly was a relief to see the water-line 

 creeping gradually toward shore over the horizon 

 of the bank, and as I rushed along I wondered 

 if the animal had gained such headway that she 

 would come tumbling down on top of me. 



"A few more strides and the bank was 



