[371-1] This selection is from _Kidnapped_, the story of a young man, David Balfour by name, who, by the treachery of an uncle who has usurped David's right to the family estate and fortune, is taken by force on board a brig bound for the Carolinas in North America. In the Carolinas, according to the compact made between David's uncle and the captain of the brig, David is to be sold. He is saved from this fate by the sinking of the brig. The selection as here given begins at the point where David is washed from the deck into the sea. The Island of Earraid is a small, unimportant island off the coast of Scotland. [381-2] A coble is a small boat used in fishing. ELEPHANT HUNTING _By_ ROUALEYN GORDON CUMMING NOTE.--Mr. Cumming, a native of Scotland, was always passionately fond of hunting. Even in boyhood he devoted most of his time to sports of the field, and showed a great fondness for all forms of natural history. For a time he served in the English army in India, and hunted the big game of those regions. However, he was not satisfied with this, and after a visit to Newfoundland, which was more disappointing to him, he went to Africa and there spent five adventurous years hunting and exploring. Throughout this time he kept a journal of his exploits and adventures, and it is from this journal that he wrote his _A Hunter's Life Among Lions, Elephants and Other Wild Animals of South Africa_, from which the following selection is taken. We may judge from his account that he did not find Africa as disappointing as India and Newfoundland had proved. His style is not that of a literary man, but he has the happy faculty of presenting things in a very vivid manner, so that we are willing to make some allowance for faults in style. He was conscious of his weakness in this matter, and partially explained it by saying, "The hand, wearied all day with the grasping of a rifle, is not the best suited for wielding the pen."