ing that I must not go out
again without him, lest I should be killed by some savage animal.

"But I have my rifle to defend myself," I observed.

"Your rifle may miss fire sometimes, or you may fail to kill the
elephant or rhinoceros you attack better have two rifles. I will go
with you," he answered, in his peculiar lingo.

Our plan was always to encamp near water, and where we could obtain wood
for our fires; for such regions were certain to be frequented by a
variety of animals. Sometimes we remained two or three days in the same
spot, provided no villages were near; though people were generally
grateful to us for destroying the wild beasts, as even the elephants are
apt to injure their plantations by breaking in and trampling over them.

Harry and I, who had become fast friends, generally went out together,
accompanied by Toko, sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback. One day
we had all three gone out on foot, prepared for any game. That we might
be more likely to fall in with some creature or other, we separated a
short distance; keeping, however, within hail, and agreeing that, should
one of us shout, the other two were to close in towards him. I was in
the centre, Toko on the left, and Harry on the right.

We had gone some distance when I heard Toko shout, "Elephant, elephant!"
I uttered the same cry to Harry, but he did not apparently hear me,
and, at all events, I could not see him. After running for thirty or
forty yards, I caught sight of Toko up a tree. He cried out to me to
climb another a short distance off, the branches of which would afford
an easy ascent. Wishing to follow his advice, I was running along, when
my foot caught in a creeper and I fell to the ground with considerable
force, letting my rifle drop as I did so, but in vain attempted to
regain my legs, so severely had I sprained my ankle. I naturally called
to Toko to come to my assistance. He did not move or reply, but
continued shouting and shrieking at the top of his voice. What was my
horror just then to see a huge elephant, with trunk uplifted, burst out
from among the trees on one side, while, at the same moment, a large
lion approached with stealthy steps on the other. I gave myself up for
lost, expecting to be carried off in the jaws of the lion, or trampled
to death by the feet of the elephant. Toko sat immovable, with his
rifle levelled at the lion's head, and just as the brute was about to
make its fatal spring he