“I cannot see how the elephant could have held out sufficiently long to reach this distance,” said Mr. Graham to Mr. Bruce, “and I think that it is convincing proof, that the beast beat his way out of the trail of the storm and took a circuitous route back to the villa.”
“If that was so,” answered Mr. Bruce, “he should have reached the villa before we departed, or else we would have met him on the way.”
“No, I think that we will yet find both the elephant and Enola safe,” said Harry, who then joined them, but probably too exhausted to return, and awaiting assistance. “See there,” and as he spoke all looked in the direction of the avenue and saw a party of natives, headed by Sedai, approaching.
“They are coming towards us,” said Onrai. “Let us meet them.”
They started towards the approaching party, Onrai in the lead. He turned his zebra to one side to go around a pile of debris, when, upon reaching the far side of this, he pulled up his zebra so quickly, that it nearly dismounted him. His eyes were bulging from their sockets and a groan left his lips; he seemed paralyzed, so rigid had he grown. The rest of the party had now come up, and also Sedai and his followers, and all looked in the direction in which was Onrai, and there, half hidden by the debris and great body of the elephant, lay Enola, her robe almost torn from her body and her face and hands black and bleeding.
CHAPTER XVII.
“SHE IS MAD.”
As both parties met and looked down on the bruised and blackened face of Enola, a cry of horror went up from each one of them. Hope had still had life as long as there was any uncertainty, but now it had met its death.
“Look,” said Harry, “the elephant is not dead. See, he is trying to move his head.”
Hurriedly the party dismounted, and Onrai lifted Enola carefully in his arms. She had fallen across Gip’s outstretched trunk when the crash came, and here she now laid. When Onrai lifted her up, Gip tried to raise his head, but this he could not do. The whole side of it was crushed in, or the lower part of it was, and he looked up with pitiful eyes, begging help from the party bending over him.
Onrai still had Enola in his arms when Mr. Bruce came up and said: