I think I hear them breaking back." They heard the hunting cry of the jackal, then a sound of crashing, and an animal, brick-red--a strange hue for the sombre shadows of the forest--darted into view, and seeing them, halted with snout lowered, and the bristling neck curving up grandly to the high shoulders.

A moment it stood there facing them, defiant, its little eyes gleaming, its tusks showing white, and the foam dripping from its jaws.

A moment, and then it sank to the ground, and was hidden under a writhing mound of coils.

Swift as an arrow the python had swooped at the prey, fastened on the neck with its jaws, and then overwhelmed it by the avalanche of its enormous length.

There followed a sickening crunch of bones, and next a wild cry from the jackal, repeated by Muata and the river-man.
Mr.Hume advanced with his Express ready, but Muata, running round, begged him not to fire.
"It is the father of the wood-spirits.