Quiet again for a few seconds, when presently the loud alarm of the plover rings over the plain--"Did he do it ?"--the bird's harsh cry speaks these words as plainly as a human being.

This alarm is a certain warning that some beast is stalking abroad which has disturbed it from its roost, but presciently it is again hushed.
The loud hoarse bark of an elk now unexpectedly startles the ear; presently it is replied to by another, and once more the plover shrieks "Did he do it ?" and a peacock waking on his roost gives one loud scream and sleeps again.
The heavy and regular splashing of water now marks the measured tread of a single elephant as he roars out into the cooled lake, and you can hear the more gentle falling of water as he spouts a shower over his body.

Hark at the deep guttural sigh of pleasure that travels over the lake like a moan of the wind!--what giant lungs to heave such a breath; but hark again! There was a fine trumpet! as clear as any bugle note blown by a hundred breaths it rung through the still air.

How beautiful! There, the note is answered; not by so fine a tone, but by discordant screams and roars from the opposite side, and the louder splashing tells that the herd is closing up to the old bull.

Like distant thunder a deep roar growls across the lake as the old monarch mutters to himself in angry impatience.
Then the long, tremulous hoot of the owl disturbs the night, mingled with the harsh cries of flights of waterfowl, which doubtless the elephants have disturbed while bathing.
Once more all sounds sink to rest for a few minutes, until the low, grating roar of a leopard nearer home warns the horses of their danger and wakes up the sleeping horsekeeper, who piles fresh wood upon the fires, and the bright blaze shoots up among the trees and throws a dull, ruddy glow across the surface of the water.