and turning
among the branches. With these also the natives formed traps for
elephants, by weaving them in and out among the trunks in such a way
that should an elephant once get in he would be unable to extricate
himself before the hunters were upon him.

"Now," said his majesty to us, through Aboh, who was kept by his side to
act as interpreter, "we will start and show you what real sport is." I
don't mean to say that Aboh used those very words, but he said something
to that effect. We looked to our rifles and commenced our march,
keeping close behind the sable monarch, whose spirits seemed to rise as
he found himself once more in the midst of the wilds in which he had
achieved renown as a hunter. No one uttered a word for fear of giving
warning to any elephants who might be feeding near at hand, and who
would break away should they hear our voices. Before long, however, we
came upon traces of several animals; young saplings being trampled
underfoot, bows torn down, and hanging vines dragged away. The king
made a sign to us to proceed even more cautiously than before. We
expected every moment to be in sight of a herd of the huge animals.
Presently we heard a loud trumpeting, not fifty yards away from us.

"Be on the look-out, Dick," cried Charley, "the beasts will be coming
this way perhaps. Get up a tree, but don't attempt to run."

He remembered how very nearly he had been caught, indeed, Harry and I
had not forgotten the fright the beasts had given us. The blacks,
however, by their movements did not seem to expect the elephants to come
that way, but advanced at a more rapid pace than before in the direction
whence the sounds proceeded.

"Why, that trumpeting seems to be coming out of the earth," cried Harry.

Just then the chief gave a flourish with his spear and rushed on.
Presently we saw him dart his weapon with all his force, as it appeared
to us, into the ground. On nearing the spot, we saw that he had hurled
it into a pit at a huge elephant whose trunk was seen waving above the
surface of the ground. The blacks now rushed on, each man holding a
javelin in his hand, which he plunged into the back or side of the
animal, now screaming with pain. Dart after dart was buried in its
flesh. It was in a pit cleverly formed in the side of a hill, towards
which it had been apparently making its way, the upper side much higher
than it could reach even with its trunk, while the lower was of
sufficient de