Year: 1861

ble under his powerful tread, aud | went
up, up, faster than / ever climbed before
or ever shall again, with every stitch of
clothes upon me completely saturated
with the perspiration wrung from me in
an agony of fear-not so much the natu-
raj fear of death itself, as the instructive
fear of such death.


l think the animal must have turned
from direct course before espying me;
for though close upon me as | supposed,
when / began to climb, had succeeded
in reaching the first limb, at least some
thirty feet from the earth, when he made
his appearance at the foot of the tree,
snorting and believing in the most ter
rifle mnaner. Seeing me beyond his
reach, he lashed himself into perfect
fury, his comparatively small, pig like
eyes shooting CLEANS Of fire as he cast
them upward in his disappointed rage
Then laying hold of the tree with his
trunk, he tried his strength in shaking it;
but as it was too heavy for him to en-
danger my position by that means, he
soon relinquished it for another. Quietly
stepping back few PAGES, he measured
his ground; and then with sudden
bound forward, he struck the tree a tre.
mendous blow with his head and tuslss.
/ was watching him closely, but only
barely comprehended his design in time
to throw my arms and legs around limb,
and brace myself for the shock. Nor was
| at all too well prepared; for the conous-
sion bruised me not little, and it seem.
ed as if few pounds more of force must
have sent me clean from my perch.


But my enemy was not done yet
STEPPING back and looking up at me, with
an expression that seemed to inquire
what | thought of it, at the same time
that he would assure me of its beginning
of his battering operations, he returned
to the charge with increased vigor. But
this time | was better prepared for him,
and came not SO near being unseated as
on tho first trial Nothing discouraged,
he retreated still further, and then came
pown like an avalanche. 1t was terrible
| had twined and braced myself in every
possible manner; but when he struck, it
seemed as if the conclusion, after first
bruising me, and almost knocking the
breath from my body, relaxed every
nerve. Doubtless, should have fallen
to the earth below, only that was pretty
securely balanced in the crotch of the
tree, and having resisted the main shock,
had now no difficulty in retaining an up.
right position.


On again looking down at the elephant,
. Il o,,,r,yal 10 b;,,, NAL, he haal
fast against the tree, lashing his tail,
paving the earth, and uttering a sort of
moaning, believing sound, altogether not
unlike vicious bull when about to make
an attack. did not at first comprehend
what had occurred but supposed his ac-
tions to result from the anger Of disap-
pointmcnt in not being able to bring me
to the ground. But | soon had cause
for rejoicing rather than fear. His last
charge had been made with so much force
as to imbed his long ivory tusks in the
tree, and he was now a prisoner to his
own brute strength. In vain he pulled
aud wrenched, moaned, beloved and
lashed himself into a perfect fury
There he was, a fast prisoner--caught,
ts OuC lIlSub od III llS ONu tIdp, anu
if ever poor mortal was Justified in re-
joicng over the misfortunes of a living
creature, think that individual was my
SELF


But was still prisoner also. How
was | to get down? True, the elephant
might not be able to liberatc himself in
time to do me any injury, but / already
knew enough of the terrible Jungle, to
feel little inclination to set off through it
alone. There were many intricate paths
branching off from the main one over
which l had been borne, and the mistake
of taking any one of these would most
certainly be fatal--resulting in death from
starvation through being lost, or death
from some one of the thousand other sur-
rounding perils. What should l do?-
1t was reasonable to hope that some Of
my attendants would, sooner or later, re-
turn to learn the fate of their MASTER
and before venturng on anything rash,
l resolved to wait q proper time for them.


Dreary passed the next three hours
that | remained upon my giddy perch,
above the imprisoned beast, looking off
uPoh MI unuuiatihS sea VI ih"steu iohSBe,
with the hot sun of that tropical climate
pouring down upon me its scortching
rays, and almost sitting me with its fe-
verish heat. How largely turned my
eyes in every direction, in the hope of
getting a glimpse of my attendants, to
whom could make known my situation.
No human being was in sight, and my
widest shouts brought no reply. Should
| remain where | was or descend. We
were, as knew, almost half days
journey from my settlement, and it would
therefore be impossible for me to reach
a habitation before nightfal, even should
| be fortunate enough to follow the near.
est path, while a single mistake would
leave me to perish in that awful solitude.
l decided, therefore, to remain where l
was, either till the sun Of another day,
or until should see at least one human
being capable of acting as guide.


The sun was rapidly nearing the west
ern horizon, and l was desparing Of any
succor that day, when my attention was
attracted to commotion in the Jungle,
some quarter of mile distant. Birds Of
various kinds few up screaming, and