eir own tongue to the elephants,
"Great captain! don't kill us--don't tread upon us, mighty chief!"--
supplicating, strangely enough, the mercy of those to whom they were
showing none. As it was almost impossible to fire without a chance of
hitting a Caffre, our travellers contented themselves with looking on,
till the whole herd had passed by, and had disappeared in the jungle
below.

"They have gone right in the direction of the waggons," said Swinton.

"Yes, sir," replied the Hottentot, Bremen; "but we must not interfere
with them any more; they are now so scattered in the jungle, that it
would be dangerous. We must let them go away as fast as they can."

They remained for a few minutes more, till every elephant and Caffre had
disappeared, and then went back cautiously to the spot from whence they
had first fired, and where they had such a fine prospect of the valley.
Not an elephant was to be seen in it; nothing but the ravages which the
herd had committed upon the trees, many of which, of a very large size,
had been borne to the ground by the enormous strength of these animals.
They then proceeded to the spot where the great bull elephant had fallen
by the rifle of Major Henderson.

They found that the ball had entered just under the eye. It was a
monster that must have stood sixteen feet high by Bremen's calculation,
and it had two very fine tusks. While they were standing by the carcass
of the animal, the armed Hottentots returned from the pursuit, and
stated that seven elephants had been despatched, and others were so
wounded that they could not live. They now set to work to take the
teeth out of the animal, and were very busy, when a Hottentot came
running up, and reported that the herd of elephants in their retreat had
dashed through the camp, and done a great deal of mischief; that a male
elephant had charged the waggon of Major Henderson, and had forced his
tusk through the side; that the tusk had pierced one of the casks of
liquor, which was running out, although not very fast, and that the
waggon must be unloaded, to get out the cask and save the rest of the
liquor.

Several Hottentots immediately hurried back with him to help in
unloading the waggon, and by degrees they all slipped away except
Bremen, Swanevelt, who was cutting out the tusks, and Omrah, who
remained perched upon the huge carcass of the animal, imitating the
trumpeting and motions of the elephant, and playing all sorts of antics.