ent.

Here great preparations had evidently been made for them. A space of
more than a mile was partially enclosed by what might be termed a vine
wall. The huge, thorny, creeping vines had been torn down from the
trees and woven into a rude sort of network, through which it was almost
impossible for any animal except an elephant to break. This was
intended--not to stop the elephant altogether, but to entangle and
retard him in his flight, until the hunters could kill him with their
spears. The work, we were given to understand, was attended with
considerable danger, for some of the natives were occasionally caught by
the thorny vines when flying from the charge of the infuriated animal,
and were instantly stamped to death by his ponderous feet.

I felt a new and powerful excitement creep over me as I saw the natives
extend themselves in a wide semicircle of nearly two miles in extent,
and begin to advance with loud shouts and cries, in order to drive the
game towards the vines, and the flashing eyes and compressed lips of my
two companions showed that they were similarly affected. We determined
to keep together and follow close on that part of the line where the
king was.

"You no be 'fraid?" said Makarooroo, looking down at Peterkin, who, he
evidently supposed, was neither mentally nor physically adapted for an
African hunter.

Peterkin was so tickled with the question that he suddenly began to
tremble like an aspen leaf, and to chatter with his teeth and display
all the symptoms of abject terror. Pointing over Makarooroo's shoulder
into the bush behind him, he gasped, "The leopard!"

The negro uttered a hideous yell, and springing nearly his own height
into the air, darted behind a tree with the agility of a wild-cat.

Instantly Peterkin resumed his composure, and turning round with a look
of cool surprise, said--

"What! you're not afraid, Makarooroo?" The good-humoured fellow burst
into a loud laugh on perceiving the practical joke that had been passed
on him, and it was evident that the incident, trifling though it was,
had suddenly raised his estimation of Peterkin to a very exalted pitch.

We now began to draw near to the enclosure, and I was beginning to fear
that our hunt was to prove unsuccessful that day. A considerable
quantity of small game had passed us, alarmed by the cries of the
natives; but we purposely withheld our fire, although I saw that Jack
was sorely tempted once or twice, when