Beyond doubt they would have bolted and left us had that camp not been an almost perfect one, on rising ground with two great wings of rock almost enclosing it, and a singing brook galloping through the midst.  There was only one gap by which elephant or man could enter (unless they should fall from the sky), and they closed that by rolling rocks and dragging up trunks of trees.

After a useless argument, during which we all lost our tempers and they were reduced to the verge of panic, we decided to leave them there in charge of Brown and those porters, except Kazimoto, who had rifles.  The armed men promised faithfully to die beside Brown in the only place of exit rather than permit a man to pass out; and the rest all agreed it would be right to shoot them if they attempted to desert; but we left the camp together—­Fred, Will, I, and Kazimoto, with Will’s personal servant and mine bringing up the rear—­wondering whether we should ever see any member or part of the outfit again.  It felt like going to a funeral—­or rather from it—­more than likely Brown’s.

Kazimoto and the other two should have been carrying spare rifles; but Brown had refused to remain behind unless we left him all but the one apiece we absolutely needed.  We took the boys more from habit than for any use they were likely to be; and my boy and Will’s bolted back to the camp almost before we were out of sight of it, Kazimoto begging us to shoot them in the back for cowards.

“Huh!” he grunted.  “They are afraid of death.  Teach them what death is!”

We heard Brown challenge them as they approached the camp, and hoped he thrashed them soundly.  But it turned out he did not.  He himself had grown afraid; for the fear of a crowd is contagious, and spreads nearly as readily from black to white as from white to black.  He broke open a chop-box and consoled himself with whisky.

Forcing our way through vegetation that crowded around a spur of volcanic rock, it soon became evident that the whole of the huge herd was breakfasting not far in front of us, tearing off limbs of trees, and crashing about as if noise were the only object.  We climbed and attempted to look down on them, only to discover that the part of the forest where we were consisted of a narrow belt, with a mile-wide open space beyond it between us and the elephants.  The wind was from them toward us, but that did not wholly account for the amount of noise that reached us.  It was the fact that the herd was twice as big as we imagined.  There were elephants in every direction.  We could see and hear branches breaking with reports like cannon-fire.

Kazimoto was as steady as an old soldier, a great grin spreading across his ugly honest face, and his eyes alight with enthusiasm.  This was the profession he had followed when he was Courtney’s gun-bearer, and he kept close to Fred with a handful of cartridges ready to pass to him, whispering wise counsel.