d his company. Soon we had left the cemetery behind
us, and lost sight of the lake which I devoutly trusted I might never
see again.

Now the track ran upwards from the hollow to a ridge two or three miles
away. We reached the crest of this ridge without accident, except that
on our road we met another aged elephant, a cow with very poor tusks,
travelling to its last resting place, or so I suppose. I don't know
which was the more frightened, the sick cow or the camel, for camels
hate elephants as horses hate camels until they get used to them. The
cow bolted to the right as quickly as it could, which was not very fast,
and the camel bolted to the left with such convulsive bounds that we
were nearly thrown off its back. However, being an equable brute, it
soon recovered its balance, and we got back to the track beyond the cow.

From the top of the rise we saw that before us lay a sandy plain lightly
clothed in grass, and, to our joy, about ten miles away at the foot of
a very gentle slope, the moonlight gleamed upon the waters of a broad
river. It was not easy to make out, but it was there, we were both sure
it was there; we could not mistake the wavering, silver flash. On we
went for another quarter of a mile, when something caused me to turn
round on the sheepskin and look back.

Oh Heavens! At the very top of the rise, clearly outlined against
the sky, stood Jana himself with his trunk lifted. Next instant he
trumpeted, a furious, rattling challenge of rage and defiance.

"Allemagte! Baas," said Hans, "the old devil is coming to look for
his lost eye, and has seen us with that which remains. He has been
travelling on our spoor."

"Forward!" I answered, bringing my heels into the camel's ribs.

Then the race began. The camel was a very good camel, one of the real
running breed; also, as Hans said, it was comparatively fresh, and may,
moreover, have been aware that it was near to the plains where it had
been bred. Lastly, the going was now excellent, soft to its spongy feet
but not too deep in sand, nor were there any rocks over which it could
fall. It went off like the wind, making nothing of our united weights
which did not come to more than two hundred pounds, or a half of what
it could carry with ease, being perhaps urged to its top speed by the
knowledge that the elephant was behind. For mile after mile we rushed
down the plain. But we did not go alone, for Jana came after us like a
cruiser after a gunboat. M