I heard the elephants'
thunder overhead, and at the same instant I heard a deep grunt behind
me, and immediately after I was shot out of that hole, like a bullet out
of a gun, and I lay on the ground a few paces from it like a dead man.
I had just consciousness enough to know that I had been grievously
wounded in one of my hams by the furious owner of the underground
excavation in which I found shelter; that the boar had darted off in the
direction the elephants had taken, then I lost all knowledge of
everything for many hours.

"When I recovered it was night. And soon I heard shots in the distance,
fired at regular intervals, and thinking perhaps that they were my
friends looking for me I fired my gun, which was immediately answered by
another. By firing thus every few minutes I succeeded in guiding them
to where I lay, for I found myself unable to move.

"When my friends found me, and were acquainted with my condition, they
lifted me on their shoulders and bore me to the camp, where I lay unable
to move for about three weeks. The marks that savage boar gave me I
have yet, and shall have to my dying day. I have spoken."

"Well, what became of the elephant you shot?" asked Selim, when Moto had
concluded his graphic and interesting story.

"He was picked up next day, about two hours' distance from the place
where I had shot him. His trail was easily known by his blood, Kisesa
made quite a sum of money from that elephant, as the tusks were as large
as any that were ever seen."

"How many cloths did Kisesa give you?" asked Selim.

"Only forty."

"_Only_ forty? That was a good deal, was it not?" asked Selim.

"Forty cloths for what brought him three hundred at Zanzibar! Do you
call forty cloths a great deal?" asked the offended Moto.

"But you forget, Moto," said Selim, "that you were a slave in the employ
of Kisesa; that the gun you carried was his, that the powder and shot
you used to shoot the elephant with were his, that the clothes you then
wore were given you by him, that the food which gave you strength was
purchased with his money, that the men who carried you from the forest
to the camp were his slaves, that the men who looked after you when you
were sick and wounded were his men, that the man who found the elephant
dead belonged to Kisesa, and that without Kisesa's aid you would have
died in the jungle, perhaps, and never have seen the elephant again.
What do you say now, Moto?" asked Selim.

"Y