278 



IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA ch. xxi 



It was very lucky that this whole adventure did 

 not end more disastrously. Indeed, I was very 

 thankful that we got off so lightly, as the vicious 

 brute only missed killing B. and Mrs. B. by a fluke, 

 while the syce and the Somali gun-bearer had also 



"there was some COMrETITION FOR THIS TASK." 



very narrow escapes. Fortunately Asa Ram was 

 not injured, although the elephant had actually stood 

 over him when it knocked him down. His nerves 

 were quite shattered and for hours afterwards his 

 eyes almost stood out of his head and had a startled, 

 half-frenzied look in them which showed plainly that 

 he had had a terrible fright. 



