er when they had gone a hundred
yards. Listening, Charlie could hear a faint crashing, and his heart
leaped in excitement. Jack nodded also.

They went on, but now the noise grew plainer and seemed to come from one
side. As they stood in perplexity, Charlie saw a single elephant track
leading off ahead.

"General! One fellow has struck off through there--the others have
doubled back, and are on one side of us. We could follow that single
track."

A guide was sent back for the others, and now the gun-bearers handed
over the heavy guns, retaining the thirty-thirties for emergencies.
Slowly they crept forward in silence, while the gruntings, crashings,
and rumblings of the great beasts came to them clearly. Cutting through
the single track, they soon came upon the whole spoor of the herd
again--but this time they knew that Charlie had been right, and that the
beasts could not be far ahead.

So dense was the matted vegetation, however, that nothing could be seen.
One of the guides pointed to a tree-trunk with his spear, and a thrill
went through the boys at sight of the fresh-rubbed bark. From one side
flew up a flock of hornbills, with squawkings and flappings of wings,
but the slow movements of the elephants went on.

At this juncture the guides nimbly sidestepped any farther advance by
going up trees like monkeys. They indicated that the herd was close at
hand, and again the party stole forward, rifles ready for instant
action.

"Makes you feel queer," murmured Jack in Charlie's ear, "to hear 'em and
not be able to get a crack."

Every sense on the alert, Charlie gripped Schoverling's arm and pointed
ahead. A long tendril of Spanish moss at a bend in the trail was shaking
slightly, and without a sound the three stepped off the trail to one
side, followed by the Indians. The doctor had remained some distance
behind, to sketch a strange flower.

Something huge and shadowy appeared vaguely, and the hunters drew back
farther still amid the tangle. Then there came a tremendous crash, and,
at the side of the trail proper a sudden quivering seized the
vegetation. At the same moment that the first elephant appeared
leisurely, two more crashed from the undergrowth.

Schoverling cast a quick glance of warning and shook his head. The two
who had burst through from the side stopped to feed, and after them came
two calves. All three were cows, but there were crashings all around,
and the Indians were as nervous as the two