"Now, Mister Archie, give us one of them spears. Got it! Now then-- talk about a mahout!--_Geet! geet_! Netherway!" he cried, using the words familiar to him from the days when he used to watch the carters and their teams. "What are you up to now?--Look at that, now, Mister Archie!" For, to the lad's great delight, the elephant had swung himself round a little, the effect being to Archie that of a heavily laden boat in a rough sea, and reaching out with his trunk towards the basket with the rest of the fruit, he had picked it up, and then began to march solemnly and sedately in the direction taken by the other elephants every morning since they had pa.s.sed the great shed.

"Can you hold on, Mister Archie?" said Peter.

"Yes; pretty well. Are you all right?"

"Oh, I'm all right, sir; but 'ware trees as soon as we get into that path in front. Mind as the branches don't wipe you off."

"I'll try."

"I say, sir, don't the Rajah know how to take care of hisself!" cried Peter, carrying his spear diagonally, and looking as if he was prepared to use it if any one should present himself to stop their way. "Now what do you think of our plan, sir?"

"Oh, it's splendid," replied the young officer. "But never mind me.

Don't talk much, for I hurt my head a little when I fell."

"Don't think about it, sir. It will soon pa.s.s off," cried Peter without turning his head, and then muttering, "Think of me talking to the poor fellow like that!--Now then, go ahead, Rajah! Best leg foremost, old man. Headquarters, please; and I hope you know the way, for I'm blest if I do. All I know is that I don't want to see that little chap again for him to go and fetch some of them guards."

The elephant slowly shuffled along for the next ten minutes or so, before the first difficulty that presented itself to the amateur mahout appeared in front; for after they had pursued the regular elephant-path beyond the clearing for some little time, there in front was a dividing of the road, and upon reaching this the elephant stopped as if in doubt, and began slowly swinging his head, ending by planting the basket he carried upon the earth and helping himself to another of the coa.r.s.e melons.

"Which way?" growled Peter, as he looked down each path in turn, the one being fairly trampled, but green with the shoots of the cane; the other showing the regular holes, and being wet and muddy in the extreme.

"All right," thought the lad. "That must be the way down to the river where t'others have gone for their bath. Right!" he cried, as the elephant raised the basket again and inclined his head slowly as if to follow the muddy path, from some distance down which came the grunting of the other elephants, when, in his excitement, Peter uttered a savage "Yah-h!"

This did as well as the purest Malay order meaning to the left, for the elephant turned his head in the other direction at once, and then planting his great feet carefully in the fairly dry holes, he began to follow the greener path.

_Squash_--_suck_--_squash_--_suck_, on and on through the forest shades, and as the boughs of the jungle trees hung over here and there lower and lower in the great tunnel of greenery, so cramped in size that there seemed to be only just room for the elephant to pa.s.s along, Peter kept on looking back nervously, half-expecting to see his companion swept away from his precarious perch.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

PHOONK!

"I'm getting better fast, Pete," cried Archie Maine, his voice sounding clearly above the _suck, suck_ of the elephant's feet in the deep old tracks, and the _whisk, whisk_ of the green cane-sprouts that shot out on either side from the wall of verdure.

"That's right, sir. You do comfort me. I've been thinking that it wasn't fair of me to be riding comfortable here while you've got nothing but a bit of rope to hold on by except your balance. But, I say, it ain't all best down here, for, my eye, ain't it 'ot!--quite steamy."

"Yes; this tunnel is steamy and hot," replied Archie.

"Oh, I don't mean the tunnel, sir. I mean Rajah's neck and these two great fly-flaps of his keeping all the wind out. I tried lifting up one of them, but I suppose it tiddled him--fancied he had got a big fly about him, I suppose. I say, Mister Archie, ain't it prime! He don't seem to be going fast, but, my word, with these long legs of his how he does get over the ground! But, I say, look ye here; wouldn't this be a jolly place if we was out for a holiday, instead of being like on furlough without leave?"

"It's beautiful," said Archie; for after they had travelled for some time in deep shadow, completely covered in, the jungle suddenly opened out, and their way was now between two perpendicular walls of dense green verdure. Just in front a couple of brilliantly green-and-gold, long-tailed paroquets suddenly flashed into sight as if about to alight, but, startled by the elephant, they flew off with sharp screams.

And now time after time large, wide-winged, diurnal moths and glistening b.u.t.terflies flew up from where they had settled on the dew-drenched herbage and fluttered before them. Not far onward a flock of finches flew from the tops of the green banks, twittering loudly as they displayed the brilliance of the blue and yellow and green of their plumage and its varying shades. But this was only for a time. The jungle growth rose higher on either side till it shut out the sunshine, and once more the elephant-path wore the aspect of a deep, shadowy tunnel, while the air grew more moist and steamy, seeming stagnant to a degree.

"All right, sir?" cried Peter, straining to look round.

"Yes, yes, Pete. My fall shook me a bit, and seemed to bring back the old aching in my head. But don't mind me. I feel quite happy now that we are getting farther and farther from our prison. We are free, and if I could only feel that we were going in the right direction I should not care."

"Oh, don't care, sir; don't care a bit. It's chance it--chance it. Old Rajah's taking us somewhere, and why shouldn't it be to headquarters?"

"It's not likely, Pete."

"Very well, sir. Then I will have another go. What do you say to its being to the Rajah's palace? I don't know where it is--only that it is somewhere in the jungle, not very far from the river. You've never been there, have you?"

"No, Pete, I haven't. But, as you say, it is not far from the river."

"Well, sir, we can't be far from the river. It must be somewhere off to our right flank, and old Rajah here must know his way, or else he wouldn't be going so steadily on; and the beauty of these places is that when once you are on the right road you can't miss your way, because there ain't no turning."

"But we pa.s.sed one turning to the right."

"Yes, sir. That's where the helephants went down to drink, and you see if we don't come to another farther on. But this is splendid travelling. How he does get over the ground! And if it warn't for the commissariat department one could go on day after day, just making a halt now and then for this chap to take in half a load of growing hay and suck in a tubful of water, and then go on again."

"Hush! Don't talk so, Pete."

"Why not, sir? I am doing it to keep up your sperrits."

"But I want to listen."

"Hear anything, sir?"

"I am not sure. But I keep expecting to hear some of the Malays in pursuit."

"Not likely, sir. If they are they must be coming on one of the other helephants, and I don't believe any of them can walk as fast as this one does, so they are not likely to overtake us. We are safe enough so long as we can get old Rajah here to keep on. The only thing that fidgets me is the eating and drinking."

"I should be glad to have some water," said Archie, "but I can wait till we come close to the river."

"That's right, sir; but what about something to eat? Old Rajah seems to have thought that all that was in the basket was meant for him, and he's tucked it inside and chucked the basket away. So don't be hungry, sir."

"I have two of the cakes, Pete, inside my jacket."

"What! Oh, who's going to mind? That's splendid noos, sir.--Go ahead, old chap. What are you flapping your ears about for? Think you can hear water?"

"There, Pete," said Archie eagerly, "I am nearly sure now I heard a faint cry far behind."

"Oh, some bird, sir. Don't you get fancying that. We are miles and miles away from where we started, and as most likely we are pretty close to the river, it's one of those long-legged heron things, and if you hear anything else it's like enough to be one of them big frogs or toads. If it was to-night instead of being this afternoon, I should say it was one of the crocs. But I should know him pretty well by heart."

The great elephant went patiently trudging on, mile after mile, with the heat so intense that Archie Maine had to fight hard to keep off a growing drowsiness, and he now welcomed the fact that the portion of the jungle through which they were being carried kept on sending down trailing strands of the rotan cane and other creepers which threatened to la.s.so him and drag him from his seat.

But no further cry or note of bird came to suggest danger from the rear, and as the drowsiness at length pa.s.sed away, the question began to arise: what was to happen when darkness came on?--for the afternoon was well spent.

It was after a long silence that Archie broached this question.

"What are we going to do when it's dark, sir?" said Peter. "Well, I've been a-thinking of that--not like you have."

"How do you know what I've been thinking?" asked Archie sharply.

"Well, I ain't sure, of course, sir, but I should think you are wondering what we should do if we come across a tiger. It strikes me that we needn't mind that--at least, not in front, for Mr Stripes wouldn't face these 'ere two great tusks. One of them would go through him like a shot. What I'm thinking of is the making of a halt, first clearing we come to. But if we do, who's going to tie up Rajah so that he sha'n't go back? He might take it into his head to stop by the river-side for some water, but it strikes me, sir, that as soon as we got off he'd go back to the old stable to see if he couldn't find something to eat and drink."