nd a moment later the boys rose to their feet.

"I'm kind of sorry," was all Jack could find to say, as he stared down
at the brute who had lived so badly and died so well. Charlie shared his
feeling, but a moment later a loud gun-shot came to his ears. He
remembered the other party, and raising his gun, fired twice in the air.

"Buck up, old man," he said, with a shaky laugh. "The General will be
here in a minute, and he'll give us what for. The old boy died game,
Jack--but he had it coming to him. Just remember Mowbray."

Jack nodded without speaking. Then, from the forest, not behind but
ahead of them, broke a group of yelling Masai headed by Bakari, running
on the spoor of the rogue elephant. Behind, trying to hold them back
from too close pursuit, ran the figure of Schoverling.

Both explorer and natives paused together as they grasped the scene
before them. Jack and Charlie stood at the side of the dead beast, still
pale with the strain of their terrific battle. Behind lay the motionless
form of Amir Ali, his beard sticking up in the sunlight, the sliver of
ivory by his head, while a few yards away the forgotten fire sent up a
thin wreath of smoke into the air.

Schoverling was the first to break that awed silence, as on his trail
appeared Guru, von Hofe, and the rest, all at full speed. While they
came up and paused in amazement, the explorer advanced and held out his
hand.

"I congratulate you," he said huskily. Meeting his eye, the two boys
found there only honest admiration, as from man to man, and they shook
hands without a word. Then von Hofe joined them, shaking hands with a
flood of excited German through which broke no word of English, and the
boys laughed.

"We thought you'd be pretty sore, General," admitted Charlie a moment
later, "about our going off that way. But, honest, we didn't mean
to--except at first."

"I understand, boys," smiled the bronzed explorer. "But never mind
that--Akram told me all about it when we began to get anxious. We
thought you had gone right on the trail of the elephant, which only led
us out here, so we kept on as fast as we could. And this is the great
Rogue Elephant! How on earth did you boys kill him? Is Amir dead?"

"No, only stunned," said Charlie. Guru and Akram were attending to their
injured comrade, who by this time was sitting up, dazed but not badly
injured. Before hearing their story, Schoverling despatched Bakari and
Guru to bring on the Masai with all