CHAPTER XXVII
The White Pigmy Elephant
Joe's mind was in a whirl. He thought of jumping up and firingpoint-blank at the oncoming leopard, but then he suddenly rememberedthat he had not been able to discharge the revolver. Perhaps thecartridges were still wet. If they were and would not fire, it wouldprobably spell his finish.
He thought, too, of waking Bob, but he knew that this would cause acommotion, which might make the leopard charge without delay. No, Joethought, neither of these plans would work.
Suddenly his face brightened somewhat. A wild scheme was in his mind.Would it work?
As undisturbing as possible, the boy reached into his pocket andremoved the little case of matches. Protected by a tightly fittingcap, they were unaffected by the rain. His movement had been socautious that apparently the leopard had not noticed.
Knowing that the heat of the atmosphere had dried out his shirt to aconsiderable degree, he resorted to a desperate measure. With a quickmovement he tore the shirt from his shoulders, struck a match, andlighted the cloth.
Almost at once the tiny blaze of the match increased in size until itwas quite large. When satisfied that the cloth was burningsufficiently, Joe tied it to a twig and, with all the strength hecould muster, threw it at the leopard.
There was a howl of fear and pain, and then the sound of retreatingfootsteps. The beast had vanished into the blackness of the jungle.
Meanwhile, Bob had jumped to his feet, having been aroused by thehowl. He looked inquiringly at his friend.
"Anything wrong?" he queried, removing his revolver.
"Nothing now--I hope," Joe returned, gazing off into the forest. "Aleopard was stalking us. I think he's gone now."
"Really? Is it gone? What did you do?"
Joe told of what had happened. When he had finished, his chum regardedhim admiringly.
"Good for you, old boy," praised Bob, patting his friend on the back."I'd have never thought of doing anything like that. But now suppose Itake up the watch for a while. I'll keep on the lookout for thatleopard."
But Joe refused, saying that his watch was not yet over.
"I'll call you later," he said, and Bob again retired.
Toward the end of his guard Joe heard a mysterious cry, similar tothat he had heard several days before. It was most blood-curdling,sending chills down his spine. Whether it was of animal or humanorigin the youth had no idea.
Bob too heard the unearthly sound later during his watch, and was asfrightened as his chum had been.
"The Forest of Mystery!" he breathed, looking about rather fearfully."Certainly seems mysterious. Things could be happening right at thisminute that nobody knows anything about."
At the first streak of dawn Bob awoke Joe, although the latter wasstill very sleepy.
"Let me wait a little bit longer," pleaded the latter, rubbing hiseyes.
But Bob stoutly refused.
"We'll just have to get going again," he said. "Have to find our dadsand the others as soon as we can."
Joe knew that this was necessary, and so arose without saying anythingfurther.
The boys were obliged to begin the day without any breakfast, althoughboth were ravenously hungry. They saw several small animals dartacross their path, but decided to lose no time in shooting them.Delay, they knew, might mean tragedy to them.
They had not the slightest notion of which way to go in search of thesafari, but they agreed to strike out to the west, as that was thedirection previously taken.
Along toward noon Bob called his chum over to a little clearing.
"Look at that strange track," he pointed out. "Was that made by a wildanimal?"
"Search me," Joe said. "I never saw anything like it before. Lookslike the footprint of a person, only it's much larger, and therearen't any toe marks."
The youths recalled the different animals they had come in contactwith and read about. But none, they were sure, could make footprintsanything like this.
"I'm sure that couldn't have been a monkey--even a gorilla," said Bob,"because there would be marks of its toes."
"Let's get out of here," murmured Joe a bit fearfully. "Who knows whatkind of a creature that might have been?"
They left the spot and plunged on through the forest. Bob removed hisrevolver and fired two shots, hoping that they could be heard by thesafari. He refrained from firing more because of the possibility ofneeding the bullets in an emergency.
All morning they hiked on, paying little or no attention to thecountry they were passing through. They observed with interest,however, the results of the hurricane. Tall trees were lying about,having been struck by lightning; numerous small dead animals could beseen.
By noon their hunger had become almost unbearable. Joe managed toshoot a large duck-like bird, which was at once roasted over a fire.To the two starved boys, the taste was delicious.
They stopped only long enough to eat the meal, for every minute ofdelay was maddening to them.
"We've just got to find our party today," said Bob, gritting histeeth. "If we don't, they'll move so far away that we never will findthem."
Joe nodded.
"But then," he reminded his friend, "maybe they'll stick around thisvicinity. They're probably looking for us, too, don't forget. We'lljust----"
He ceased abruptly and suddenly turned pale.
The reason was not far to seek. A huge spear had whizzed past hishead, missing it by only a very few inches!
For some time neither of the youths spoke. They stared fearfully intothe green depths of the forest whence the spear had been thrown.
Then, seeing no signs of natives, Bob broke the silence.
"What do you think?" he asked in a low voice, never taking his eyesfrom the jungle.
Joe waited a moment before replying. He had not yet recovered from thehorror that had seized him.
"I--I don't know what to think," he said tensely. "Savages, cannibals,maybe."
"But why don't they attack us?" asked Bob, greatly puzzled.
"More than I know."
The youths remained where they were for several minutes, fearful tomove on for fear of being struck from behind. But when after quite awhile nothing more happened they concluded it was safe to go on.
All through the afternoon they kept a close lookout for savages butsaw none. Nor did they see any traces of human habitation. With everystep they became more mystified. Who had thrown the spear? What wasthe object in throwing it? Why had the chums not been attacked?
"This doggone Forest of Mystery gets on my nerves," said Joe, as latethat afternoon they stopped beside a small spring. "Oh, if we couldonly find our safari!"
After replenishing their water bottles, which were strapped tightlyover their shoulders, the young adventurers continued their franticsearch.
At a little open space they suddenly caught sight of something thatmade them gasp in wonder.
Moving awkwardly from behind a low hill was the strangest creaturethey had ever laid eyes on. It was an unusually small elephant--allwhite!