TREED BY AN ELEPHANT 247 



reached, and without a second's hesitation I 

 sprang into the air and shot through the twenty 

 feet of space into the swiftly running water. 

 The force of the fall drove me out of sight. 

 Turning quickly, I swam under water and down- 

 stream until lack of breath compelled me to 

 come to the surface. 



"The elephant was standing on the bank 

 above, trumpeting loudly and blowing great 

 clouds of dust and ashes into the air. Now a 

 new peril presented itself crocodiles. The Nile 

 swarmed with them, but on second thought I 

 remembered that they frequented sluggish water 

 and, as the current here ran fully six miles an 

 hour, there was, after all, not much danger 

 from them. 



"Striking out for shore, I was soon so close 

 under the bank that the elephant was lost to 

 view. By continuing alongshore for a hundred 

 yards, the exposed roots of a tree were found, 

 and to these I clung until my breath had re- 

 turned. Swimming on down-stream to a point 

 where the bank was low, I climbed out into a 

 fringe of bushes and small trees. 



"Working my way quietly through the foliage, 

 I went back part way and then climbed a tree 



