at Stas finally had to command silence in order that
Nell should sleep.

The night was very cold, but the next day, when the first rays of the
sun illuminated the locality, it became warm at once. About sunrise the
little travelers saw a strange sight. They were just approaching a
little lake over a mile wide, or rather a great slough formed by the
rains in the mountain valley, when suddenly Stas, sitting with Nell on
the King, and looking about the region through a field-glass, exclaimed:

"Look, Nell! Elephants are going to the water."

In fact, at a distance of about five hundred yards could be seen a
small herd composed of five heads, approaching the little lake slowly
one after the other.

"These are some kind of strange elephants," Stas said, gazing at them
with keen attention; "they are smaller than the King, their ears are
far smaller, and I do not see any tusks at all."

In the meantime the elephants entered the water but did not stop at the
shore, as the King usually did, and did not begin to splash with their
trunks, but going continually ahead they plunged deeper and deeper
until finally only their backs protruded above the water like boulders
of stone.

"What is this? They are diving!" Stas exclaimed.

The caravan approached considerably towards the shore and finally was
close by it. Stas halted it and began to stare with extraordinary
astonishment now at Nell, then at the lake.

The elephants could not be seen at all; in the smooth watery pane even
with the naked eye could be distinguished five spots like round red
flowers, jutting above the surface and rocking with a light motion.

"They are standing on the bottom and those are the tips of their
trunks," Stas said, not believing his own eyes. Then he shouted to Kali:

"Kali, did you see them?"

"Yes, master, Kali sees. Those are water-elephants,"* [* Africa
contains many uninvestigated secrets. Rumors of water-elephants reached
the ears of travelers but were given no credence. Recently M. Le Petit,
sent to Africa by the Museum of Natural History, Paris, saw
water-elephants on the shores of Lake Leopold in Congo. An account of
this can be found in the German periodical "Kosmos," No. 6.] answered
the young negro quietly.

"Water-elephants?"

"Kali has seen them often."

"And do they live in water?"

"During the night they go to the jungle and feed and during the day
they live in the lake the same as a kiboko (hippopotamus). They do not
c