Allan Quatermain has determined to go farther afield than he had ever traveled before, into the depths of the African jungle – on a march inland to the hills between lands controlled by the chiefs Wambe and Nala. Quatermain has heard of the elephants dwelling in the dense forests at the foot of the mountains edging Wambe’s lands – and also stories of Wambe himself, so ruthless a ruler he murdered in cold blood an entire party of English party who, seven years before, entered his country to hunt elephants. Quatermain determines to go elephant-hunting all the same. Before he has gone far, however, he faces rebellion among his own men, unexpected dangers from massive beasts of the jungle – and then receives from an old friend a strange message, hidden within a bowl of bartered food.