From the direction in which they were approaching, the hovel could not be seen until they should get within less than two hundred yards of it.

There was a belt of rather tall jungle to be passed through, and then it would be in sight.
Through this jungle they commenced advancing; and there, to their no slight uneasiness, they also observed fresh traces of the elephant.
They were now certain that he had passed through it before them, still going direct for the hut.
What on earth can he want there?
was the query that once more suggested itself to the minds of all three.

It certainly looked as if he had proceeded there in search of _them_! As if, missing them from the scene of the encounter, he believed they had returned home, and was following up their acquaintance.
From what they had observed, they could not help attributing to the great quadruped the possession of an intelligence something more than natural; and this, though it may have been only an absurd fancy on their part, had the effect of begetting within their minds a very painful feeling of apprehension.

What they saw on coming out on the other side of the jungle not only strengthened this feeling of apprehension, but increased it all at once to a positive terror.
The hut, which should now have been before their eyes, and at a distance of not quite two hundred paces, _was no longer there_! The ruins of it alone were visible.

The large boulders with which its walls had been built, the beams and thatch that had composed its roof, the grass couches upon which they had slept, the rude improvised utensils and other articles which had served them for furniture, were all strewed far and wide over the ground; and not the semblance of a house, or even hovel, remained to show that the spot had been occupied by a human habitation! Yes--in what had been their rude dwelling our adventurers beheld only a ruder ruin--scarce one stone standing upon, another! They beheld all this with feelings of fear--ay, something stronger--with awe.