e has been fidgeting about the tigers."

"Yes."

"Look here, then: you sit fast, and I'll just feel how he lies, and then
get out of this jolly old basket, hold on to the side, and then jump in
on him, take him by the neck, and give a good loud snarl. I can imitate
the tigers exactly."

"And suppose he hits you with all his might?"

"I shouldn't give him time. I should roll off directly. He'd declare a
tiger had jumped into the howdah, and brag about how he had escaped."

Ned was silent.

"Well, wouldn't it be a game? Why don't you answer? What are you
thinking about?"

"Tim scratching a match, and frightening the elephant," said Ned
quietly.

"What? this morning?"

"Yes; and of how it rushed off."

"Ah! I never thought of that," said Frank. "Perhaps it would scare it,
and that would be awkward in the dark."

"Let me get down and walk before you begin," continued Ned.

"Oh, bother! I shan't do it now. I say, I don't know where we should
all be if he started now."

"I don't know where we are without his starting," replied Ned. "It
seems to me as if the thing's going right through the blackest part of
the forest as it is."

"Nonsense! And look: it isn't so dark now. We're out in that part
where we rested this morning."

That was plain enough, for a load seemed to have been suddenly lifted
from their spirits. The air felt warm and fresh. The peculiar dank
odour of the trampled leaves and mud was wanting, and right above them
were the purple heavens ablaze with glorious stars, looking brighter and
larger than they had ever seemed before.

"Hah!" ejaculated Ned, taking a long breath; "that's better."

But the pleasurable feeling soon passed away, for at the end of five
minutes, the jungle track was entered upon again, and plash, plash,
plash, plash, on they went, with the howdah creaking to the elephant's
swing, and the boughs now dripping with moisture brushing against them
as the elephants plunged on.

"Why, we shall be hours yet," said Ned. "Oh, I am getting so sick of
this. It was bad enough this morning when it was daylight. Hark!
What's that?"

"Tiger," said Frank, in a subdued voice, "on the prowl. But I don't
suppose he'll come near us."

Frank's words did not inspire confidence. On the contrary, they made
Ned feel very nervous, and begin to envy Tim's ability to sleep all
through the perilous jaunt. For dangerous it was, since, setting aside
the risk of an attack by so