pressed his opponent
against a big tree, which was scraped and dotted with hair and blood.
But this stood a good fifteen feet away from the position of the
buffalo, and there were only elephant tracks between!

"Jumping sandhills!" cried Charlie, realizing the truth. "He must have
caught up that buffalo and _flung_ him! Then he went over and kneeled
all over him."

"Right you are," exclaimed Jack. "Ugh, what a mess! Let's go on."

As they turned, a vulture came winging out of the sky and descended
without fear on the carcass. Charlie pointed out that they must be
wrong.

"This is another bull, Jack. If the other fellow fought last night, the
vultures would be on him by now. Anyhow, that sap was too fresh on the
twigs. Bet a dollar the rogue had two scraps last night instead of
one."

That they were right was verified a moment later by Amir Ali, who
attracted their attention to a moving object behind some trees six
hundred yards away, at the crest of a rise. The boys had their glasses
out instantly.

"It's either a rhino or the fellow we're after," declared Jack with a
low exclamation. "He's moving off--there he goes on the other side!"

"Come on!" cried Charlie, running forward. Carried away beyond all
thought of caution by the excitement, Jack and Amir Ali dashed after him
recklessly. It had been impossible to make out the elephant clearly by
reason of the trees between, but Charlie had no doubt that he was the
one they were after.

That they were plunging into grave danger never occurred to him, nor did
he wonder why Schoverling and the rest had not come up. The sun was now
high overhead, and the higher ground around them bore no tracks. But
neither boy had eye for anything except that clump of trees where the
huge animal had stood.

"You keep your eye peeled," cried Jack, at his chum's shoulder. "He's
liable to be waitin' there."

But as the trees opened out ahead they saw that the elephant had not
waited. The group of mimosas where he had been was waving slowly in the
wind, and for the first time Charlie remembered that most essential part
of African hunting. A brief glance, however, showed that they were
across the wind from their prey, and so were safe enough. What lay
beyond the mimosas was hidden by the rise, toward which they were
rapidly approaching.

Panting, the boys at length drew up to the trees, and the country ahead
unfolded. To their keen disappointment, there was no sign of the
elephan