nd saplings, cutting his way clean through; he raced
grunting and puffing up hill-side and down ravines; he dodged through
the big trees with an agility and swiftness most wonderful in so heavy
and clumsy a beast, and all the time his enemy hung upon his rear,
sometimes near enough to gore his flank, sometimes out-distanced for a
little as the tame beast, frenzied with fear and pain, put out an
extraordinary burst of speed. And in the howdah, fast bound still to
the tough wicker-work, was Jack, the only spectator of this marvellous
chase through the jungle, and one with an immense stake in it.

When the "rogue" came up, Jack's heart beat thick with anxiety. If the
creature that bore him was once more knocked down, then he knew that
it would be all over with him. He would certainly be crushed like a
fly in the terrific struggle which would follow. When the
pad-elephant got away, Jack breathed a little more freely, until he
heard his enemy's ponderous steps once again thundering up.

Mile after mile, through jungle or over open plain, this marvellous
chase went on, and still the pad-elephant raced snorting for his life,
still the furious "rogue" pounded at his heels in hot pursuit.

Jack was nearly shaken to pieces. He braced his feet against the side
of the howdah, and propped himself firmly against a corner of the huge
basket in which he rode. More than once the curling trunk of the
pursuer was raised above his head, but, as is well known, the wild
elephant hesitated to attack a rider on the tame one's back. For three
full hours the furious monarch of the jungle drove the pad-elephant
before him, a ride Jack never forgot to the end of his days. Then they
came out on a wide grassy plain by a river, where a large herd of wild
elephants was standing knee-deep in the stream, solemnly spouting
water over their backs.

On rushed the pad-elephant, now panting and almost ready to fall from
exhaustion, towards his fellows. But the "rogue," a hater of his kind,
pulled up, trumpeted a few shrill notes of defiance, turned, and
trotted back into the jungle.

The pad-elephant now stood still, trembling from head to foot with his
tremendous exertions. The herd of wild elephants, more than twenty in
number, left the river and came towards the beast which bore the
howdah and Jack. They marched up in slow and stately fashion, without
any sign of anger, but apparently full of curiosity as to this
newcomer and his strange equipment.