BACK TO AFRICA. 167 



"Yes, there are two, — but both dangerous. We might 

 set fire to the forest and dry underbrush around us. The 

 trees would burn last, and there would be a chance — 

 perhaps one in ten — of our escaping alive, as the ele- 

 phants would be driven off" immediately by the burning 

 undergrowth." 



" But how would you set the fire, when we cannot 

 leave this branch ? " 



" By lighting my cotton drawers, and throwing them 

 down among those dry leaves there ! " he replied with 

 a triumphant smile. 



"Well,'* said I, laughing at the fellow's ingenuity, 

 and glad to see his confidence returning, '' if your second 

 idea is less practicable, we will try this one. But let 's 

 hear it." 



Just as he started to tell me, one of the elephants 

 came nearer the tree, and standing close beside it, 

 watching us with angry eyes, he raised his flexible 

 trunk as far as he could, trying to reach us. His hot 

 breath fanned us violently, and it gave me a dizzy feel- 

 ing to see within how few feet he came of his prey. 

 Seeing his inability to quite reach us, the animal uttered 

 the most terrible noises, and his companions joined him 

 in the assault, hurling their ponderous bodies against 

 the tree, and shaking us as if it were a sapling. One 

 of the elephants raised himself so high that he lost his 

 balance and went over with a crash; before he could 

 recover himself, one of the others stepped upon his 



