wnward from the lonely and
depressing sight, and in a silence which none of us seemed willing to
break, we proceeded up the deserted river.

We had reached a point which, from my map, I imagined must have been
about the former site of Erith, when I discovered a small band of
antelope a short distance inland. As we were now entirely out of meat
once more, and as I had given up all expectations of finding a city
upon the site of ancient London, I determined to land and bag a couple
of the animals.

Assured that they would be timid and easily frightened, I decided to
stalk them alone, telling the men to wait at the boat until I called to
them to come and carry the carcasses back to the shore.

Crawling carefully through the vegetation, making use of such trees and
bushes as afforded shelter, I came at last almost within easy range of
my quarry, when the antlered head of the buck went suddenly into the
air, and then, as though in accordance with a prearranged signal, the
whole band moved slowly off, farther inland.

As their pace was leisurely, I determined to follow them until I came
again within range, as I was sure that they would stop and feed in a
short time.

They must have led me a mile or more at least before they again halted
and commenced to browse upon the rank, luxuriant grasses. All the time
that I had followed them I had kept both eyes and ears alert for sign
or sound that would indicate the presence of Felis tigris; but so far
not the slightest indication of the beast had been apparent.

As I crept closer to the antelope, sure this time of a good shot at a
large buck, I suddenly saw something that caused me to forget all about
my prey in wonderment.

It was the figure of an immense grey-black creature, rearing its
colossal shoulders twelve or fourteen feet above the ground. Never in
my life had I seen such a beast, nor did I at first recognize it, so
different in appearance is the live reality from the stuffed, unnatural
specimens preserved to us in our museums.

But presently I guessed the identity of the mighty creature as Elephas
africanus, or, as the ancients commonly described it, African elephant.

The antelope, although in plain view of the huge beast, paid not the
slightest attention to it, and I was so wrapped up in watching the
mighty pachyderm that I quite forgot to shoot at the buck and
presently, and in quite a startling manner, it became impossible to do
so.

The elephant was bro