“Him good eat,” said the black pointing to the foot he had just cut off.
Although we certainly could not agree with him, we did not contradict his assertion. He then cut some slices out of the back, which had not a more attractive appearance than the foot. The black, however, seemed to think that we had now an ample supply of food. We should have camped on the spot, as the shades of evening were already coming on, had we not been anxious to discover Tom.
“We must find him before nightfall,” I observed; “for even although the creatures may not have killed him, he may be injured and unable to rejoin us.”
“Certainly, unless he has got to a considerable distance, he must have heard our shouts,” remarked Harry.
Charley agreed with us, and we accordingly proceeded in the direction of the spot where Charley had left our companion. As we went on we shouted out his name, while we looked carefully on either side, dreading at any moment to discover his mangled remains. Aboh hunted about with great care, but for some distance the ground was so trampled by the elephants’ feet, and the trees and shrubs so torn, that any footsteps of a human being must effectually have been obliterated. Presently, however, we crossed the path formed by the herd as they had made their way towards us, and all traces of them ceased. A short time afterwards we saw Aboh examining the ground, then he pointed ahead and went on at a rapid rate, we following his footsteps. Again he stopped, and stooping down picked up a rifle. We recognised it as Tom’s. What had become of its owner? Still Aboh went on.
By this time the forest was so shrouded in the gloom of approaching night that we could with difficulty see anything before us. Again Aboh stopped and cried out, “Him here! him here!” We hurried forward. There was our poor friend stretched on the ground, his leg caught in a vine below a tall tree with branches coming close to the ground. The dreadful thought seized me that he was dead.
“Tom, Mr Tubbs, speak to me,” I cried out I heard a groan. At all events, he was alive. Stooping down, I rested his head on my knee. Charley and Harry quickly came up. We soon released poor Tom’s foot. On examining it, we feared that it was dislocated, or at all events severely sprained, and that probably he had fainted from the pain. Having water in our flasks, we poured some down his throat. By wetting his hands and chafing his arms we in a short time brought him to. He looked round him, evidently very much astonished.
“Where am I, mates? What has happened?” he asked at length. “I was dreaming that a shark or a tiger or some beast or other had bitten off my foot.”
“Not so bad as that,” said Charley, “although you have hurt it considerably, I fear.”
“Ah, now I recollect all about it. I was afraid, Mr Westerton, that you were caught by the elephants, and I was expecting to share the same fate. As I could not help you, I thought the wisest thing I could do was to run for my life. I confess it, I never was in such a fright before. I somehow dropped my gun, and then, just as I was about to climb up into that tree overhead, I found myself caught with a round turn about my leg, and down I came. The honest truth is, I don’t remember anything more of what happened after that.”