206 EXTINCT MONSTERS. 



hours. The stream rolled over and tore up the soft wet ground 

 like chaff, so that it was dangerous to go near the brink. While 

 we were all quiet, we suddenly heard under our feet a sudden 

 gurgling and stirring, which betrayed the working of the disturbed 

 waters. Suddenly our ja'ger, ever on the outlook, called loudly, 

 and pointed to a singular and unshapely object, which rose and 

 sank through the disturbed waters. I had already remarked it, 

 but not given it any attention, considering it only driftwood. 

 Now we all hastened to the spot on the shore, had the boat 

 drawn near, and waited until the mysterious thing should again 

 show itself. Our patience was tried, but at last a black, horrible, 

 giant-like mass was thrust out of the water, and we beheld a 

 colossal elephant's head, armed with mighty tusks, with its long 

 trunk moving in the water in an unearthly manner, as though 

 seeking for something lost therein. Breathless with astonishment, 

 I beheld the monster hardly twelve feet from me, with his half- 

 open eyes yet showing the whites. It was still in good pre- 

 servation. 



" ' A mammoth ! a mammoth ! ' broke out the Tschernomori ; 

 and I shouted, ' Here, quickly. Chains and ropes ! ' I will 

 go over our preparations for securing the giant animal, whose 

 body the water was trying to tear from us. As the animal again 

 sank, we waited for an opportunity to throw the ropes over his 

 neck. This was only accomplished after many efforts. For 

 the rest we had no cause for anxiety, for after examining the 

 ground I satisfied myself that the hind legs of the Mammoth 

 still stuck in the earth, and that the waters would work for us to 

 unloosen them. We therefore fastened a rope round his neck, 

 threw a chain round his tusks, that were eight feet long, drove 

 a stake into the ground about twenty feet from the shore, and 

 made chain and rope fast to it. The day went by quicker than 

 I thought for, but still the time seemed long before the animal 

 was secured, as it was only after the lapse of twenty-four hours 

 that the waters had loosened it. But the position of the animal 



