Page:In Desert and Wilderness (Sienkiewicz, tr. Drezmal).djvu/255

 Rh questioned him how the elephant got into such a place and from Kali's replies he ascertained more or less what had happened.

The elephant evidently ran before the fire by way of the ravine during the burning of the jungle; on the way he forcibly bumped against a loosened rock, which tumbled down and cut off his retreat. After that, having reached the end of the hollow, he found himself on the edge of a precipice below which a river ran, and in this manner was imprisoned.

After a while they discovered an outlet but so steep that it was necessary to dismount from the horses and lead them after. As the negro assured them that the river was very near they proceeded on foot. They finally reached a promontory, bounded on one side by a river, on the other by the hollow, and glancing downward they beheld on the bottom of a dell an elephant.

The huge beast was lying on its stomach and to Stas' great surprise did not start up at the sight of them. Only when Saba came running to the brink of the dell and began to bark furiously did he for a moment move his enormous ears and raise his trunk, but he dropped it at once.

The children, holding hands, gazed long at him in silence, which finally was broken by Kali.

"He is dying of hunger," he exclaimed.

The elephant was really so emaciated that his spine protruded, his sides were shrunken, his ribs were distinctly outlined notwithstanding the thickness of his hide, and it was easy to conjecture that he did not rise because he did not now have sufficient strength.

The ravine, which was quite wide at its opening, changed into a dell, locked in on two sides by perpendicular rocks, and on its bottom a few trees grew. These trees were