Show ELEPHANT TRAPPING How the Great Beasts are Captured Cap-tured iii Africa THE FUNERAL IK THE COUNTRY It is a Very Melancholy Thine as Compared to that in the City Edmunds Yates and Ouida Silenb and almost motionless quite Lid den in the darkness stood the huge form of an old null elephant one of whoso tusks had been damaged in his you h and had bocome totally decayed His head was bent forward in order to rest his one monster mon-ster tusk upon the ground his trunk loosely coiled b wecn his fore legs was clso resting on the ground and his great ragged ears flapped spasmodically in vain endeavors to shake off the myriads of mosquitoes mos-quitoes that persistently hovered around his head Suddenly the forest was lit up by a most vivid flash of lightning followed nu instant afterward by a crashing peal of thunder The elephant raisedhis head with a startled jerk his huge limbs slinking slink-ing with fear Almost before the rumbling echoes of the thunder had died away the rain that had been threatening for so many hours fell in torrents Flashes of lightning succeeded suc-ceeded each other so rapidly that the attendant at-tendant peals of thunder were converted into one continuous roar and the violence of the wind soon increased to a veritable tornadoa tropical hurricane Trees wire blown down and uprooted on all sides The terrified elephant remained for some time motionless with fear but as the tempest continued the monster became be-came suddenly panicstricken and charged madly through the dense forest stumbling and falling over the trunks of uprooted trees in his endeavors to gain some open patch where there would be no danger of being crushed by the falling timber Suddenly in the midst of a mad rush the elephant sank to the ground with a sharp squeal of pain The poor brute had severed the vines that supported one of the traps that had been arranged the previous day and a heavily weighted spear was plunged between his shoulders For some moments he remained motionless then the great body rolled slowly from side to side in vain endeavor to free himself from the spear but the weapon was barbed and the points had penetrated too deeply to bs shaken off Here he remained exhausted until daybreak his hide covered with patches of mud and deep red smears of bloodHerbert Ward in Scribners |