Part 21 (1/2)

Their bodies were dripping and it was hard to breathe.

Most of the time they were in the shade of the huge trees, but once in a while the canoe darted into a patch of suns.h.i.+ne and then the rays of the afternoon sun beat down upon them fiercely.

The Taharans minded the humidity and so did the Gorols, while d.i.c.k and Dan were terribly f.a.gged, but the black men did not seem to notice it.

Their ebony-like bodies were wet with perspiration, but they seemed cheerful and eager. Only the command of the Mahatma kept them from breaking into song.

The boys looked into the jungle on both sides and saw that it was densely tangled with hanging vines. Here and there a clump of bamboo made a barrier that only a hatchet could cut through; elsewhere the forest was overgrown with small trees forcing their way to the sunlight, and among them could be seen the stealthy shapes of wild beasts.

”Hope we don't run into leopards or lions,” said Dan. ”It's going to be tough to fight the tribesmen, and we don't want to be clawed by wild animals before the sc.r.a.p begins.”

”That's a chance we have to take.”

”You said it! Hey!----Look at that! Duck for your life!”

From a near-by branch, a long sinuous object like a giant creeper, suddenly swung toward them. It showed a murderous head, with wide open jaws and a tongue that darted angrily.

”Great snakes!” shouted Dan, striking at it with his paddle.

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 d.i.c.k. ”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,” d.i.c.k 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 pa.s.s the b.u.t.ter.' 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 fas.h.i.+oned 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.”

”I guess it was the mastodon that did the hunting in those days,” d.i.c.k answered. ”The cave-men were not the hunters but the hunted, if you ask me.”

”And that goes for the sabre-toothed tiger, too.”

”I bet it was a toss-up whether the human race would conquer the animals or be eaten by them in the Stone-Age,” said d.i.c.k. ”Maybe that's why the people of today get scared and have panics so easily.

It may be a hang-over from the fear that haunted our ancestors.”

”I can't say I'm exactly scared----” Dan Carter began, but before he could finish his sentence a shout from a boatman startled him and he answered with a yell of terror.