But the canoe had darted past the danger before the scaly monster could attack and Dan breathed more easily.
"Look there in the shadows," said Dick. "Elephants, as I'm alive!"
"And whoppers!" cried Dan. "Say, I never saw them that big before. Not even in a circus!"
"They are dangerous to fool with," Dick remarked. "I would hate to be in front of that old bull if he started to charge."
The biggest elephant in the herd seemed the size of a freight car as he calmly reached into the tree tops and pulled down the tender foliage. His trunk stretched high above his head as he felt for the tender shoots.
"A regular boarding house reach!" laughed Dan, forgetting his suspense for a moment. "Say that bozo would never have to say, 'Please pass the butter.' He could grab it from the other end of the table."
One of the Taharans gave a cry of astonishment at seeing the huge creature so near by, and at the noise the elephant faced about, waving his enormous ears and looking at the intruders with an expression of anger in his little, intelligent eyes.
"I feel safer out here!" Dan observed. "What use would a bow and arrow be against that tough hide?"
"You're right. Even my old fashioned Arab gun would hardly send a bullet through it."
"How do you suppose the Stone-Age men ever hunted mastodons?" asked Dan. "Those woolly mastodons with long curving tusks were lots bigger than the elephant."