ully at the sight of the
King, whom only the commands of Stas restrained from pursuit.

An African elephant detests a rhinoceros, and if he finds its fresh
tracks, trusting to superior strength, he follows until he finds his
adversary and commences a combat in which the rhinoceros is almost
always the victim. It was not easy for the King, who undoubtedly was
already responsible for the death of many, to renounce this habit, but
now he was so tame and was so accustomed to regard Stas as his master,
that hearing his voice and observing the threatening look in his eyes,
he dropped his uplifted trunk and walked ahead quietly. Stas did not
lack a desire to witness a fight between giants, but he feared for
Nell. If the elephant started on a full run, the palanquin might be
wrecked, and what is worse, the huge beast might bump it against a
bough, and then Nell's life would be in terrible danger. Stas knew from
descriptions of hunts which he had read in Port Said that the
tiger-hunters in India fear, more than the tigers, that the elephant in
a panic or in pursuit may dash the howdah against a tree. Finally, the
full run of the giant is so heavy that no one without impairment of his
health could long endure such rides.

On the other hand, the presence of the King removed a multitude of
dangers. The malignant and bold buffaloes, which they met that day
bound for the little lake at which all the animals of the vicinity
gathered at evening, also scampered away at sight of him and, making a
circuit of the whole lake, drank on the other side. At night the King,
with one hind leg tied to a tree, guarded the tent in which Nell slept.
This was a watch so secure that though Stas ordered a fire to be built,
he regarded the erection of a zareba as a superfluous precaution,
though he knew that the lions would not be missing in a region
abounding with such numerous herds of antelopes. In fact, it happened
that very night that some lions began to roar among the gigantic
junipers* [*Junipers in the Karamojo Mountains in Abyssinia attain the
height of one hundred and sixty feet. See Elisee Reclus.] growing on
the hillsides. Notwithstanding the blazing fire the lions, allured by
the odor of horses, drew nearer to the camp; but, when the King became
tired of hearing their voices and suddenly, amid the stillness, his
threatening, thunder-like clarion tones resounded, they hushed as
though abashed, apparently understanding that with such an indiv