up a warning hand and slipped ahead. In
a few moments he returned in great excitement.

"Elephant!" he whispered. "Him close! Come!"

No sign of elephant could Charlie or Jack see until they had advanced
another hundred feet in the half-gloom. Then the guide pointed out the
spoor, deep and heavy in the damp leaves that matted the trail. Here the
natives squatted down to wait, and here also the boys made a discovery.

Charlie had stepped ahead, a little to one side of the trail. But as he
did so the guides started forward in silent dismay. He paid no attention
to them, trying to peer through the dense vegetation; suddenly it seemed
that everything gave way beneath him, and the next moment his legs were
dangling in vacancy, while he gripped the vines and sticks spread over a
great hole dug at one side of the track.

The others broke into quiet laughter at his amazed expression, while the
guides pulled him out hurriedly and silently. Then he saw that he had
tumbled into an elephant pit--a long, deep trench, narrowing at the
bottom.

"I told you you'd see something," whispered the explorer, as Charlie
recovered himself, somewhat disgusted. "Now let's get busy on the
trail."

By lighting a match and by watching the tree-tops far overhead they
ascertained that the wind was right for an approach, and with guides and
gun-bearers they started off on the spoor.

"How many, do you think?" asked Schoverling cautiously. Jack had been
studying the signs intently, and answered without hesitation.

"About eight females, three little fellows, and a big chap."

"Just what the guides say," grinned the explorer delightedly. "Pretty
good, eh, Doctor? We were lucky in finding them so near camp."

The trail was now marked by freshly broken branches and splintered
trees, while in places the bushes were trampled down for yards, where an
elephant had stopped to feed. Charlie declared that the animals were not
more than half an hour ahead of them, at which the explorer nodded.

Dr. von Hofe had been sketching busily for some time, paying special
attention to the spoor and the marks of feeding. He made careful
photographs as they advanced, and as Charlie watched him he wondered at
the painstaking efforts of the big German to get every smallest detail
correctly. Then Schoverling beckoned, and the two boys slipped ahead
with him, their moccasined feet as noiseless as the naked soles of the
guides.

"Hear anything?" muttered the explor