Off like that, without the slightest warning! If Kathlyn could only keep him clear of the trees, for the old rogue would do his best to scrape off the irksome howdah.
Kathlyn heard the shouts from behind, but she could not understand whether these were warnings or advice.

Could they overtake her before she was flung off?
She tried to recall the "elephant talk" Ahmed had taught her in the old days at the farm, but just now she was too dazed.
At the end of an hour all sounds from the rear ceased; no more pistol shots to encourage her with the knowledge that friends were near.
Rajah must have outstripped them two or three miles.
At length she came into a small clearing amid the tall jungle grass, a dead and brittle last year's growth.

She saw two natives in the act of kicking out a dung fire.

Rajah headed directly toward them, the fire evidently being in the line of path he had chosen.

This rare and unexpected freedom, this opportunity to go whither he listed, was as the giant fern he used to eat in the days when he was free and wild in Ceylon.
Kathlyn called out to the men, but they turned and fled in terror.