y when Saba came running to the
brink of the dell and began to bark furiously did he for a moment move
his enormous ears and raise his trunk, but he dropped it at once.

The children, holding hands, gazed long at him in silence, which
finally was broken by Kali.

"He is dying of hunger," he exclaimed.

The elephant was really so emaciated that his spine protruded, his
sides were shrunken, his ribs were distinctly outlined notwithstanding
the thickness of his hide, and it was easy to conjecture that he did
not rise because he did not now have sufficient strength.

The ravine, which was quite wide at its opening, changed into a dell,
locked in on two sides by perpendicular rocks, and on its bottom a few
trees grew. These trees were broken; their bark was peeled and on the
branches there was not a leaf. The climbing plants hanging from the
rocks were torn to pieces and gnawed, and the grass in the dell was
cropped to the last blade.

Stas, examining the situation thoroughly, began to share his
observations with Nell, but being impressed with the inevitable death
of the huge beast he spoke in a low tone as if he feared to disturb the
last moments of its life.

"Yes, he really is dying of starvation. He certainly has been confined
here at least two weeks, that is, from the time when the old jungle was
burnt. He ate everything that there was to eat and now is enduring
torments; particularly as, here above, bread-fruit trees and acacias
with great pods are growing, and he sees them but cannot reach them."

And for a while they again gazed in silence. The elephant from time to
time turned towards them his small, languid eyes and something in the
nature of a gurgle escaped from his throat.

"Indeed," the boy declared, "it is best to cut short his pangs."

Saying this, he raised the rifle to his face, but Nell clutched his
jacket and, braced upon both of her little feet, began to pull him with
all her strength away from the brink of the hollow.

"Stas! Don't do that! Stas, let us give him something to eat! He is so
wretched! I don't want you to kill him! I don't want it! I don't!"

And stamping with her little feet, she did not cease pulling him, and
he looked at her with great astonishment and, seeing her eyes filled
with tears, said:

"But, Nell!--"

"I don't want it. I won't let him be killed! I shall get the fever if
you kill him."

For Stas this threat was sufficient to make him forego his murderous
design