He went under, but came up again almost at once, as gracefully as if he had dived from a plank into a mill pond.
“Push out from shore, you frightened chumps!” he shouted, “and take me aboard.”
The blacks on the raft, amazed at hearing his voice behind them, when they supposed that he was being dashed to pieces upon the ground, jumped to their poles and pushed out.
A moment later Trim climbed on board and laid hold of the poles with them, for he thought it still possible that the elephant might pursue and as long as there was shallow water the big beast might make things hot for them.
The big beast evidently had enough of it, however. He stood on the bank, raising his huge feet up and down, swinging his trunk, and trumpeting loudly.
The men on the rafts got into mid stream, where the water was deep, and[Pg 21] then allowed the current to push them on.
The last they saw of the elephant he had waded into the river and crouched down there apparently trying to ease his wounded eye and trunk by holding them under water.
CHAPTER VI.
THE BATTLE IN THE MEADOW.
It was not long after the adventure with the elephant when Trim took out the pocket spyglass that he had risked his life to save and looked through it at the top of a distant hill on the northern side of the river.
“Ee took big chances to get that play-thing, lad,” remarked Dobbin, solemnly.