With the agility of a squirrel he sprang into a tree and ran nimbly
to the top. One of the blacks followed more slowly and carefully.
When he had reached a lofty limb beside the ape-man the latter
pointed to the south, and there, some few hundred yards away, the
black saw a number of huge black backs swaying back and forth above
the top of the lofty jungle grasses. He pointed the direction to
the watchers below, indicating with his fingers the number of beasts
he could count.

Immediately the hunters started toward the elephants. The black in
the tree hastened down, but Tarzan stalked, after his own fashion,
along the leafy way of the middle terrace.

It is no child's play to hunt wild elephants with the crude weapons of
primitive man. Tarzan knew that few native tribes ever attempted
it, and the fact that his tribe did so gave him no little pride--already
he was commencing to think of himself as a member of the little
community. As Tarzan moved silently through the trees he saw the
warriors below creeping in a half circle upon the still unsuspecting
elephants. Finally they were within sight of the great beasts.
Now they singled out two large tuskers, and at a signal the fifty
men rose from the ground where they had lain concealed, and hurled
their heavy war spears at the two marked beasts. There was not a
single miss; twenty-five spears were embedded in the sides of each
of the giant animals. One never moved from the spot where it stood
when the avalanche of spears struck it, for two, perfectly aimed,
had penetrated its heart, and it lunged forward upon its knees,
rolling to the ground without a struggle.