That day we travelled on to the Gap.'
The same evening that the boys reached the rocky pass, a
messenger-pigeon arrived at Rockburg, bearing a note which concluded in
the following words:
`The barricade at the Gap is broken down. Everything laid waste as far
as the sugar-brake, where the hut is knocked to pieces, and the fields
trampled over by huge footmarks. Come to us, father--we are safe, but
feel we are no match for this unknown danger.'
I lost not an instant, but saddled Swift, late as it was, in order to
ride to the assistance of our boys, desiring Ernest to prepare the
small cart, and follow me with his mother at daybreak, bringing
everything we should require for camping out for some days.
The bright moonlight favoured my journey, and my arrival at the
Gap surprised and delighted the boys who did not expect me till next
day. Early on the following morning I inspected the footprints and
ravages of the great unknown. The cane-brake had, without doubt, been
visited by an elephant. That great animal alone could have left such
traces and committed such fearful ravages.
Thick posts in the barricade were snapped across like reeds; the trees
in the vicinity, where we planned to build a cool summer-house, were
stripped of leaves and branches to a great height, but the worst
mischief was done among the young sugar-cane plants, which were all
either devoured or trampled down and destroyed.
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