d out, and not in the painful, cramping position of the
previous night.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

ARCHIE THINKS.

"Hoomph! Phoonk!"

"What say?" cried Peter, springing up in a sitting position, to find it
was daylight once more. "Oh, it's you, is it?" he cried, for there was
a crackling by the door, and the great, tapering, serpent-like trunk of
an elephant was waving to and fro and reaching towards the water-jar.

"Yahhh! Burrrr!" came from outside, and there were steps as if somebody
were rushing towards the door to chase the intruder away.

The utterer of the yell seemed to have been successful, for the trunk
was drawn back quickly, the elephant trumpeted, there were the footsteps
of a man, and the shuffling sound of the gait of the great beast, as,
springing up, Peter Pegg ran to the door and climbed up to place his eye
where the trunk had been, so that he could see what was taking place.

"My! Look at that!" cried Peter cheerily. "That ain't the way to drive
a helephant away. You are going all wrong, comrade." For, instead of
suffering himself to be driven, the elephant opened his mouth, curved up
his trunk into something the shape of the letter S, and displaying two
finely produced, sharply pointed tusks, he was starting in full chase of
the stumpy underling who had been driving him down to the river, but
only to turn back and make a call on his new friend for refreshment.

"What a lark!" said Peter, as the elephant disappeared after his quarry.
"It makes me feel as if I should like to keep helephants, if I get to
be Field-Marshal and they make me Governor-General of Injy and Malay;
for they are such rum beggars. They look just as if when they died they
would do to cut up for injy-rubber. And they seem so friendly, too,
with any one they like. Sort of things as you can't drive, but have to
lead. I should like a good helephant for a pet, but I suppose he would
be expensive to keep; and I don't suppose that there grubby-looking
little chap feels very comfortable with that one chivying him. Here, I
never thought of that," continued Peter, as he dropped down amongst the
palm-leaves. "My lord was reaching out that big leech of his after our
rations. Lucky he couldn't get at them. I ought to have remembered to
put them away;" and, to guard against any mishap, Peter Pegg hastened to
place jar and basket in the right-hand corner of the building, where
they would be handy for replenishing, and out of rea