whoever they were, that
he had heard at work among the trees high up on the bank of the
ravine.

So now Jack was silent, but he looked about eagerly on every hand for
some sign of human life. If the people had heard his cries, surely
they would come to see who called for help in such a place. His
elephant was now quietly feeding with the rest, and the last rays of
the sun were shining through a gap in the hills straight into the
hollow where the elephants were gathered.

Looking eagerly back on the track the herd had followed, Jack saw
something moving in the wild plum-bushes about three hundred yards
away. He looked closer and saw that it was a man, a native. His heart
leaped for joy. Whether friends or enemies, perhaps he was about to be
loosed from his dreadful position. Now he saw a second man, and the
two dark figures, both naked save for a waist-cloth, crept slowly
towards him under cover of the bushes.

They were a couple of Panthay wood-cutters, felling teak trees on the
edge of the ravine. At present the ravine was dry, but in the rainy
season an ample flood of water roared along the hollow, a flood which
would carry the teak logs down to the big river below. They had heard
Jack's cries, and, wondering at the strange sound, had followed up in
rear of the flying elephants.

Their surprise was immense when they saw a white sahib in the howdah
on the elephant's back. But in this part of the country, where white
men very rarely came, a white face was regarded with the deepest
reverence, and the simple, harmless Panthays at once set about the
task of relieving the sahib who seemed unable to rise in his carriage.
One of them disappeared at once into the jungle, one remained in the
bushes.

Jack saw that they were engaged upon some plan, and hoping that it
meant his deliverance, he remained silent, and watched eagerly for
what was about to happen.

Within ten minutes he saw one of the woodmen swarming up a tree some
distance ahead, a tree growing beside the well-trodden path which wild
beasts had made along the foot of the ravine. Then his companion
showed himself among the bushes below and uttered a peculiar cry. The
wild elephants stopped feeding at once. Always sensitive to the
presence of man, which means danger, they gathered uneasily in a
group. Then, following the lead of an immense bull, the patriarch of
the herd, they lumbered along the path up the ravine and away from the
wood-cutter who had shown h