ra, ho! ho! Hims got him's supper off a bullet!"

"'Tis well that he has," observed Jack, as he reloaded his rifle. "To
say truth, comrades, I scarcely deserve credit for being guardian of the
camp, for I'm ashamed to say that I was sound asleep at the moment the
lion roared. How I ever managed to take so quick and so good an aim is
more than I can tell. Luckily my rifle was handy, and I had fallen
asleep in a sitting posture. Had it been otherwise, I could scarcely
have been in time to prevent the brute springing on us, had he felt so
disposed."

Here was now another subject for my note-book, so I sat down, and began
a minute inspection of the noble-looking animal, while my comrades,
heaping fresh logs on the fire, sat down in front of it, and for upwards
of an hour, "fought their battles o'er again."

It was a matter of deep regret to us all that we could not afford to
carry away with us the skin of this lion as a memorial; but
circumstanced as we then were, that was out of the question, so we
contented ourselves with extracting his largest teeth and all his claws,
which we still preserve in our museum as trophies of the adventure.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

WE VISIT A NATURAL MENAGERIE, SEE WONDERFUL SIGHTS, AND MEET WITH
STRANGE ADVENTURES.

We observed, on this journey, that the elephants which we met with in
our farthest north point were considerably smaller than those farther to
the south, yet though smaller animals, their tusks were much larger then
those of the south. The weight of those tusks varied from twenty to
fifty pounds, and I saw one that was actually upwards of one hundred
pounds in weight--equal, in fact, to the weight of a big boy or a little
man. Such tusks, however, were rare.

At nights, when we encamped near to a river or pool of water, we saw
immense numbers of elephants come down to drink and enjoy themselves.
They seemed, in fact, to be intoxicated with delight, if not with water;
for they screamed with joy, and filling their trunks with water, spurted
it over themselves and each other in copious showers. Of course, we
never disturbed them on such occasions, for we came to the conclusion
that it would be the height of barbarity and selfishness to spoil the
pleasure of so many creatures merely for the sake of a shot.

Frequently we were wont to go after our supper to one of those ponds,
when we chanced to be in the immediate neighbourhood of one, and lying
concealed among the bu