“It won’t make much difference to him,” said Mr. Piper. “Business is going to be dull for a time, and he can easily get some one in my place if he likes. When we come back, after we get your sister,” he said to Joe, “I can take my old place. But I don’t want to see a moving picture for a year.” “We expect to take some,” said Blake, with a smile. “But not dramas!” cried C. C. “No, just wild animals, and perhaps scenes with the African natives,” spoke Joe. “That’s all right,” said Mr. Piper, and his meal having arrived, he sat up to it with a relish. The boys could see that he would be all right soon, and left to tell Mr. Duncan the surprising news. “Why, no, I haven’t any objection to his accompanying us,” said Joe’s father, when it had been related to him. “In fact, I think he will be an advantage. I was thinking of hiring some sort of a hunter to accompany us, for if we have to go into the jungle we’ll need the services of a good shot. As it is, I think we will have to hire a guide--a white man--who will know how to handle the native porters. It will be necessary to take someone like that with us.” “I wish the time would pass!” exclaimed Joe. “I’m anxious to get into the jungle and film an elephant charging, or a lion rushing at us.” “Yes, as long as he doesn’t rush too close,” put in Blake. “I’m thinking it’s going to be ticklish work standing up to a charging lion.” The next day Mr. Piper was well enough to leave his room. He called on Mr. Duncan, apologized for the unconventional manner in which he had attached himself to the party, and was made welcome. Then, for several days, nothing was talked of but the coming trip into the jungle. Mr. Piper’s experiences in India would serve them all in good stead, it was felt. “The three worst animals in Africa,” he said, “are the elephant, lion and rhinoceros. Some put the cape buffalo in place of the elephant, and I don’t know but what they are right, in certain sections.” “How is that?” asked Blake. “Because you never can tell what they are going to do,” was the answer. “From what I have read I should put the rhinoceros down as the most dangerous.” “Why?” Joe wanted to know. “Because he seems to act wholly without reason. You never can tell when one is going to rush on you, and the charge of one of the ungainly beasts is no joke. You see, their eyesight, like that of the elephant, is very poor. They depend altogether on their hearing and sense of smell, both of which are very acute. Once they scent, or hear, what they think is an enemy they charge blindly. Their rush, their great weight and the ripping power of their horns is enormous. Natives have been impaled through their hip bones by rhinoceroses, and tossed into the jungle to die, merely because they passed by a place where a rhino was sleeping.