But the colossus did not think of rearing or catching any one by the feet. With an unsteady gait he approached the egress of the ravine, gazed for a while over the precipice, at the bottom of which water was seething; afterwards he turned to the wall close to the waterfall, directed his trunk towards it, and, having immersed it as best he could, began to drink.
"It is his good fortune," Stas said, "that he can reach the water with his trunk. Otherwise he would have died."
The elephant drank so long that finally the little girl became alarmed.
"Stas, won't he harm himself?" she asked.
"I don't know," he replied, laughing, "but since you have taken him under your care, warn him now."
So Nell leaned over the edge and cried:
"Enough, dear elephant, enough!"
And the dear elephant, as if he understood what was the matter, stopped drinking at once, and instead, began to splash water over himself. First he splashed water on his feet, then on his back, and afterwards on both sides.
But in the meantime it grew dark; so Stas conducted the little girl to the zareba where supper already awaited them.
Both were in excellent humor—Nell because she had saved the elephant's life and Stas because he saw her eyes sparkling like two stars and her gladdened face which was ruddier and healthier than it had been at any time since their departure from Khartûm. A promise of a quiet and perfect night also conduced to the boy's contentment. The two inaccessible sides of the promontory absolutely secured them from attacks from those directions, and on the third side Kali and Mea reared so high a wall of thorny branches of acacias and of passion flowers that there could be no thought of any predacious beasts being able to surmount such a barrier. In addition the weather was fine and the heavens immediately after sunset were studded with countless stars. The air, which was cool, owing to the proximity of the waterfall, and which was saturated with the odor of the jungle and newly broken branches, was agreeable to breathe.