158 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE. 



and," added he, with conscious pride, " there are not three 

 men in tlie business beside myself who can do tliis." He 

 turned and addressed a word or two of caution to the 

 natives, and the silence was unbroken afterward, save by 

 the calls and answers from the elephants at intervals of 

 a few minutes, the latter rapidly approaching our tree. 

 At last we began to hear them breaking their waj- 

 through the foliage, with occasional pauses to place the 

 direction, evidently, from which Thursday's cries proceeded. 

 It was one of those black nights when the darkness is so 

 intense it seems as though daylight could never pierce it 

 again ; and this and my strange surroundings — clinging 

 to a tree with a handful of savages, in the midst of an 

 almost untracked wilderness, filled with wild beasts of 

 which so royal an example was now^ nearing us — gave 

 me, for a moment, a sensation of dizziness that proved 

 Thursday's wisdom in lashing us to the branch. Suddenly 

 the elephant's steps ceased, and two of my guide's best- 

 feigned cries of distress- remained unanswered. I began 

 to fear lest our scent should have reached the game. I 

 could hear the uneven, restless breathing that indicated 

 disquietude ; and Thursday, too, evidently thought it time 

 to change his tactics, for he uttered a much shriller and 

 longer cry than before, to which the elephant replied by 

 a soft and more agreeable note, almost like a mother's 

 call. 



" It is a female," whispered Thursday, rapidly, and, 

 without waiting for reply, he continued his quicker cries, 



