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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hair-Breadth Escapes, by H.C. Adams
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Hair-Breadth Escapes
+       The Adventures of Three Boys in South Africa
+
+Author: H.C. Adams
+
+Release Date: July 31, 2010 [EBook #33304]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+Hair-Breadth Escapes, by Rev H.C. Adams.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPES, BY REV H.C. ADAMS.
+
+DEDICATION.
+
+To the Rev  G.G. Ross, D.C.L., Principal of St Andrew's College,
+Grahamstown, Cape Colony.
+
+My dear Ross,
+
+I dedicate this Tale to you for two reasons: first, because it is, in
+some sort, a souvenir of a very interesting visit to South Africa,
+rendered pleasant by the kind hospitality shown us by so many in
+Grahamstown, and by no one more than yourself.  Secondly and chiefly,
+because it gives me the opportunity of expressing publicly to you my
+sympathy in the noble work you are carrying on, under the gravest
+difficulties--difficulties which (I am persuaded) many would help to
+lighten, who possess the means of doing so, were they but acquainted
+with them.
+
+H.C. Adams.
+
+Dry Sandford, _August 1876_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+THE HOOGHLY--OLD JENNINGS--SHORT-HANDED--THE THREE BOYS--FRANK--NICK--
+ERNEST--DR LAVIE--TENERIFFE.
+
+It was the afternoon of a day late in the November of the year 1805.
+His Majesty's ship _Hooghly_, carrying Government despatches and stores,
+as well as a few civil and military officers of the East India Company's
+service, was running easily before the trade wind, which it had caught
+within two days' sail of Madeira--and was nearing the region of the
+tropics.  The weather, which had been cold and stormy, when the
+passengers left England some weeks before, had been gradually growing
+bright and genial; until for the last three or four days all
+recollections of fog and chill had vanished from their minds.  The sky
+was one vast dome of the richest blue, unbroken by a single cloud, only
+growing somewhat paler of hue as it approached the horizon line.  The
+sea stretched out into the distance--to the east, an endless succession
+of purple wavelets, tipped here and there with white; to the west, where
+the sun was slowly sinking in all its tropical glory, one seething mass
+of molten silver.
+
+It was indeed a glorious sight, and most of our readers will be of
+opinion that those who had the opportunity of beholding it, would--for
+the time at least--have bestowed little attention on anything else.  But
+if they had been at sea as long as Captain Wilmore, they might perhaps
+have thought differently.  Captain Wilmore had been forty years a
+sailor; and whether given, or not given, to admire brilliant skies and
+golden sunsets in his early youth, he had at all events long ceased to
+trouble himself about them.  He was at the outset of this story sitting
+in his cabin--having just parted from his first lieutenant, Mr Grey--
+and was receiving with a very dubious face the report of an old
+quartermaster.  A fine mastiff was seated by the captain's chair,
+apparently listening with much gravity to what passed.
+
+"Well, Jennings, Mr Grey tells me you have something to report, which
+he thinks ought to be brought straight to me, in order that I may
+question you myself about it.  What is it?  Is it something about these
+gentlemen we have on board?  Are they dissatisfied, or has Lion here
+offended them?"
+
+"No, cap'en," said the old sailor; "I wish 'twas only something o' that
+sort.  That would be easy to be disposed of, that would."
+
+"What is it, then?  Is it the men, who are grumbling--short rations, or
+weak grog, or what?"
+
+"There's more rations and stronger grog than is like to be wanted,
+cap'en," said Jennings, evasively, for he was evidently anxious to
+escape communicating his intelligence, whatever it might be, as long as
+possible.
+
+"What do you mean, Jennings?" exclaimed Captain Wilmore, roused by the
+quartermaster's manner.  "More rations and stronger grog than the men
+want?  I don't understand you."
+
+"Well, cap'en, I'm afraid some on 'em won't eat and drink aboard this
+ship no more."
+
+"What, are any of them sick, or dead--or, by heaven, have any of them
+deserted?"
+
+"I'm afeared they has, cap'en.  You remember the Yankee trader, as sent
+a boat to ask us to take some letters to Calcutta?"
+
+"Yes, to be sure; what of him?"
+
+"Well, I've heard since, as his crew was going about among our chaps all
+the time he was aboard, offering of 'em a fist half full of guineas
+apiece, if they'd sail with him, instead of you."
+
+"The scoundrel!" shouted Captain Wilmore.  "If I'd caught him at it, I'd
+have run him up to the mainyard, as sure as he's alive."
+
+"Ay, cap'en; and I'd have lent a hand with all my heart," said the old
+seaman.  "But you see he was too cunning to be caught.  He went back to
+his ship, which was lying a very little way off, for there wasn't a
+breath of wind, if you remember.  But he guessed the breeze would spring
+up about midnight, so he doesn't hoist his boats up, but hides 'em under
+his lee, until--"
+
+"I see it all plain enough, Jennings," broke in the captain.  "How many
+are gone?"
+
+"Well, we couldn't make sure for a long time, Captain Wilmore," said
+Jennings, still afraid to reveal the whole of his evil tidings.  "Some
+of the hands had got drunk on the rum fetched aboard at Madeira, and
+they might be lying about somewhere, you see--"
+
+"Well, but you've found out now, I suppose?" interjected his questioner
+sharply.
+
+"I suppose we has, cap'en.  There's Will Driver, and Joel Grigg, and
+Lander, and Hawkins, and Job Watson--not that _he's_ any great loss--and
+Dick Timmins, and--"
+
+"Confound you, Jennings! how many?" roared the captain, so fiercely,
+that the dog sprang up, and began barking furiously.  "Don't keep on
+pottering in that way, but tell me the worst at once.  How many are
+gone?  Keep quiet, you brute, do you hear?  How many, I say?"
+
+"About fifteen, cap'en," blurted out the quartermaster, shaking in his
+shoes.  "Leastways there's fifteen, or it may be sixteen, as can't be
+found, or--"
+
+"Fifteen or sixteen, or some other number," shouted the skipper.  "Tell
+me the exact number, you old idiot, or I'll disrate you!  Confound that
+dog!  Turn him out."
+
+"Sixteen's the exact number we can't find," returned Jennings, "but some
+of 'em may be aboard, and turn up sober by-and-by."
+
+"Small chance of that," muttered the captain.  "Well, it's no use
+fretting; the question is, What's to be done?  We were short-handed
+before--so you thought, didn't you, Jennings?"
+
+"Well, cap'en, we hadn't none too many, that's sartain; and we should
+have been all the better for half a dozen more."
+
+"That comes to the same thing, doesn't it?" said the skipper, who, vexed
+and embarrassed as he was, could not help being a little diverted at the
+old man's invincible reluctance to speaking out.
+
+"Well, I suppose it does, sir," he answered, "only you see--"
+
+"I don't see anything, except that we are in a very awkward scrape,"
+interposed the other.  "It will be madness to attempt to make the
+passage with such a handful as we have at present.  If there came a
+gale, or we fall in with a French or Spanish cruiser--" He paused,
+unwilling to put his thoughts into words.
+
+"'Twouldn't be pleasant, for sartain," observed Jennings.
+
+"But, then, if we put back to England--for I know no hands are to be had
+at Madeira, we should be quite as likely to encounter a storm, or a
+Frenchman."
+
+"A good deal more like," assented the quartermaster.
+
+"And there would be the loss and delay, and the blame would be safe to
+be laid on me," continued the captain, following out his own thoughts
+rather than replying to his companion's observations.  "No, we must go
+on.  But then, where are we to pick up any fresh hands?"
+
+"We shall be off the Canaries this evening, cap'en," said Jennings.
+"We've been running along at a spanking rate with this wind all night.
+The peak's in sight even now."
+
+"The Canaries are no good, Jennings.  The Dons are at war with us, you
+know.  And though there are no ships of war in the harbour at Santa
+Cruz, they'd fire upon us from the batteries if we attempted to hold
+communication with the shore."
+
+"They ain't always so particular, are they, sir?" asked the sailor.
+
+"Perhaps not, Jennings.  But the Dons here have never forgiven the
+attack made on them seven or eight years ago, by Nelson."
+
+"Well, sir, they might have forgiven that, seeing as they got the best
+of it I was in that, sir--b'longed to the _Foxy_ and was one of Nelson's
+boat's crew, and we got nothing out of the Dons but hard knocks and no
+ha'pence that time."
+
+"That's true.  But you see Nelson has done them so much harm since, that
+the damage they did him then seems very little comfort to them.  No, we
+mustn't attempt anything at the Canaries."
+
+"Very good, sir.  Then go on to the Cape Verdes.  If this wind holds, we
+shall soon be there, and the Cape Verdes don't belong to the Dons."
+
+"No; to the Portuguese.  Well, I believe that will be best.  I have
+received information that the French and Spanish fleets are off Cape
+Trafalgar; and our fellows are likely to have a brush with them soon, if
+they haven't had it already."
+
+"Indeed, sir!  Well, Admiral Nelson ain't likely to leave many of 'em to
+follow us to the Cape.  We're pretty safe from them, anyhow."
+
+"You're right there, I expect, Jennings," said the skipper, relaxing for
+the first time into a grim smile.  "Well, then, shape the ship's course
+for the Cape Verdes, and, mind you, keep the matter of those scoundrels
+deserting as quiet as possible.  If some of the passengers get hold of
+it, they'll be making a bother.  Now you may go, Jennings.  Stay, hand
+me those letters about the boys that came on board at Plymouth.  I've
+been too busy to give any thought to them till now.  But I must settle
+something about them before we reach the Cape, and I may as well do so
+now."
+
+The quartermaster obeyed.  He handed his commanding officer the bundle
+of papers he had indicated, and then left the cabin, willing enough to
+be dismissed.  The captain, throwing himself with an air of weariness
+back on his sofa, broke the seal of the first letter, muttering to
+himself discontentedly the while.
+
+"I wonder why I am to be plagued with other people's children?  Because
+I have been too wise to have any of my own, I suppose!  Well, Frank is
+my nephew, and blood is thicker than water, they say--and for once, and
+for a wonder, say true.  I suppose I _am_ expected to look after him.
+And he's a fine lad too.  I can't but own that.  But what have I to do
+with old Nat Gilbert's children, I wonder?  He was my schoolfellow, and
+pulled me out of a pond once, when I should have been drowned if he
+hadn't I suppose _he_ thought that was reason enough for putting off his
+boy upon me, as his guardian.  Humph!  I don't know about that.  Let us
+see, any way, what sort of a boy this young Gilbert is.  This is from
+old Dr Staines, the schoolmaster he has been with for the last four or
+five years.  I wonder what he says of the boy?  At present I know
+nothing whatever about him, except that he looks saucy enough for a
+midshipman, and laughs all day like a hyena!
+
+"`Gymnasium House, Hollingsley,
+
+"`September 29th, 1805.
+
+"`Sir,--You are, no doubt, aware that I have had under my charge, for
+the last five years, Master George Gilbert, the son of the late Mr
+Nathaniel Gilbert, of Evertree, a most worthy and respectable man.  I
+was informed, at the time of the parent's decease, that you had been
+appointed the guardian of the infant; but as Mr Nathaniel had, with his
+customary circumspection, lodged a sum in the Hollingsley bank,
+sufficient to cover the cost of his son's education for two years to
+come, there was no need to trouble you.  You were also absent from
+England, and I did not know your direction.
+
+"`The whole of the money is not yet exhausted; but I regret to say I am
+unable to retain Master George under my tuition any longer.  I must beg
+you to take notice that his name is _George_, as his companions are in
+the habit of calling him "Nick," giving the idea that his name, or one
+of his names, is Nicodemus.  Such, however, is not the case, George
+being his only Christian appellative.  Why his schoolfellows should have
+adopted so singular a nomenclature I am unable to say.  The only
+explanation of it, which has ever been suggested to me, is one so
+extremely objectionable, that I am convinced it must be a mistake.
+
+"`But to proceed'--(`A long-winded fellow this!' muttered the captain as
+he turned the page; `who cares what the young scamp's called?')--`But to
+proceed.  I cannot retain Master George any longer.  His continually
+repeated acts of mischief render it impossible for me any longer to
+temper the justice due to myself and family with the mercy which it is
+my ordinary habit to exercise.  I will not detail to you his offences
+against propriety'--(`thank goodness for that,' again interjected
+Captain Wilmore, `though I dare say some of his offences would be
+entertaining enough')--`I will not detail his offences--they would fill
+a volume.  I will only mention what has occurred to-day.  If there is
+any practice I consider more objectionable than another, it is that of
+using the dangerous explosives known as fireworks.  Master Gilbert is
+aware that I strictly interdict their purchase; in consequence of which
+they cannot be obtained at the only shop in Hollingsley where they are
+sold, by any of my scholars.  But what were my feelings--I ask you,
+sir--when I ascertained that he had obtained a large number of
+combustibles weeks ago, and had concealed them--actually concealed them
+in a chest under Mrs Staines's bed!  The chest holds a quantity of
+linen, and under this he had hidden the explosives, thinking, I
+conclude, that it was seldom looked into.  Seldom looked into!  Why,
+merciful heaven, Mrs Staines is often in the habit of examining even by
+candlelight'--(`I say, I can't read any more of this,' exclaimed the
+captain; `anyhow, I'll skip a page or two.'  He turned on a long way and
+resumed.)--`When I found out this morning that he was missing, I felt no
+doubt that my words had produced even a deeper effect than I had
+designed.  Mrs Staines and myself both feared that in his remorse he
+had been guilty of some desperate act; and we made every effort,
+immediately after breakfast, to discover the place of his retreat.
+Being St Michael's day, it was a whole holiday, and we were thus enabled
+to devote the entire day to the quest.  It has been extremely rainy
+throughout; but when we returned, two hours ago, exhausted and wet to
+the skin, after a fruitless search, we found him, dry and warm, awaiting
+us in the hall.  This was some relief; but judge of our feelings when we
+discovered that the shameless boy had put on my camlet-cloak and
+overalls--they had been missing, and I had been obliged to go without
+them! he had taken Mrs Staines's large umbrella, and had waited for us,
+from breakfast time, round the corner, under the confident assurance
+that we should go to look for him.  Sir, it has been his amusement to
+follow us about all day, gratifying his malevolent feelings with the
+spectacle of our exposure to the elements, our weariness, our
+ever-increasing anxiety!  You will not wonder after this, sir--'"
+
+"There, that will do," once more exclaimed the skipper, throwing aside
+the letter with a chuckle of amusement.  "I must say I don't wonder at
+the doctor's refusing to keep him any more after that!  Well, his father
+wanted him to be a sailor, and maybe he won't make a bad one.  Only we
+must have none of his tricks on board ship.  I'll have a talk with him,
+when I can spare the time.  That's settled.  And now I can see Dr Lavie
+about this other lad, young Warley.  Hallo there, Matthews, tell the
+doctor I am at liberty now."
+
+In a few minutes the person named was ushered into Captain Wilmore's
+presence.  The new comer was a gentlemanly and well-looking young man,
+and bore a good character, so far as he was known, in the ship.  The
+captain was pleased with his appearance, and felt at the moment more
+than usually gracious--possibly in consequence of his recent mirth over
+George Gilbert's exploits.  He spoke with unusual kindness.
+
+"Well, doctor, what can I do for you?  You have come to speak to me
+about young Ernest Warley, I think?"
+
+"Yes, Captain Wilmore, I want to ask your advice.  His father was the
+best friend I ever had.  He took me by the hand when I was left an
+orphan without a sixpence, and put me to school, and took care of me.
+When he was dying, he made me promise to do my best for his boy, as he
+had for me.  But I'm afraid I can't do that, glad as I should be to do
+it, if I could--"
+
+"But I don't understand, doctor.  Old Warley--I knew a little of him--
+was a wealthy man, partner in Vanderbyl and Warley's house, one of the
+best in Cape Town.  The lad can't want for money."
+
+"Ah, he does, though.  His elder brother has all the money.  He was the
+son of the first wife, old Vanderbyl's daughter, and all the money
+derived from the business went to him.  The second wife's fortune was
+settled on Ernest; but it was lost, every farthing of it, in the failure
+of Steinberg's bank last year."
+
+"Won't the elder brother do anything?"
+
+"No more than very shame may oblige him to do.  He hated his father's
+second wife, and hates her son now."
+
+"How old is the lad?"
+
+"Past nineteen; very steady and quiet, but plenty of stuff in him.  He
+wouldn't take his brother's money, if he had the chance; says he means
+to work for himself.  He wanted to be a parson, and would have gone this
+autumn to the University, but for the smash of the bank.  He'll do
+anything now that I advise him, but I don't know what to advise."
+
+"`Nineteen!'--too old for the navy.  `Wanted to be a parson!'--wouldn't
+do for the army.  `Do anything you advise!'  Are you sure of that?  Few
+young fellows now-a-days will do anything but what they themselves
+like."
+
+"Yes, he'll do anything I advise, because he knows I really care for
+him.  Where he fancies he's put upon, he can be stiff-backed and defiant
+enough.  I've seen that once or twice.  Ernest hasn't your nephew
+Frank's temper, which is hot and hasty for the moment, but is right
+again the next.  He doesn't come to in a minute, as Frank does, but he's
+a good fellow for all that."
+
+The captain's brow was overcast as he heard his nephew's name.  "Frank's
+spirit wants breaking, Mr Lavie," he said in an angry tone.  "I shall
+have to teach him that there's only one will allowed aboard ship, and
+that's the captain's.  Frank can ride and leap and shoot to a bead they
+tell me, but he can't command my ship, and he shan't.  I won't have him
+asking for reasons for what I order, and if he does it again--he'll wish
+he hadn't.  But this is nothing to the purpose, Mr Lavie," he added,
+recovering himself.  "We were talking about young Warley.  You had
+better try to get him a clerkship in a house at Cape Town.  You mean to
+settle there yourself after the voyage, do you not?"
+
+"Well, no, sir, I think not I had meant it, but my inclination now
+rather is to try for a medical appointment in Calcutta.  You see it
+would be uncomfortable for Ernest at the Cape with his brother--"
+
+"I see.  Well, then, both of you had better go on to Calcutta with me.
+I dare say--if I am pleased with the lad--I may be able to speak to one
+of the merchants or bankers there.  What does he know? what can he do?"
+
+"He is a tolerable classical scholar, sir, and a good arithmetician, Dr
+Phelps told me--"
+
+"That's good," interposed the captain.
+
+"And he knows a little French, and is a fair shot with a gun, and can
+ride his horse, though he can't do either like Frank--"
+
+"Never mind Frank," broke in Captain Wilmore hastily.  "He'd behave
+himself at all events, which is more than Frank does.  Well, that will
+do, then.  You two go on with the _Hooghly_ to Calcutta, and then I'll
+speak to you again."
+
+Mr Lavie rose and took his leave, feeling very grateful to his
+commanding officer, who was not in general a popular captain.  He was in
+reality a kind-hearted man, but extremely passionate, as well as
+tenacious of his authority, and apt to give offence by issuing unwelcome
+orders in a peremptory manner, without vouchsafing explanations, which
+would have smoothed away the irritation they occasioned.  In particular
+he and his nephew, Frank Wilmore, to whom reference more than once has
+been made, were continually falling out Frank was a fine high-spirited
+lad of eighteen, for whom his uncle had obtained a military cadetship
+from a director, to whom he had rendered a service; and the lad was now
+on his way to join his regiment.  Frank had always desired to be a
+soldier, and was greatly delighted when he heard of his good fortune.
+But his uncle gave him no hint that it was through him it had been
+obtained.  Indeed, the news had been communicated in a manner so gruff
+and seemingly grudging, that Frank conceived an aversion to his uncle,
+which was not removed when they came into personal contact on board the
+_Hooghly_.
+
+The three lads, however, soon fraternised, and before they had sighted
+Cape Finisterre were fast friends.  Many an hour had already been
+beguiled by the recital of adventures on shore, and speculation as to
+the future, that lay before them.  Nor was there any point on which they
+agreed more heartily than in denunciation of the skipper's tyranny, and
+their resolve not to submit to it.  When Mr Lavie came on deck, after
+his interview in the captain's cabin, they were all three leaning over
+the bulwarks, with lion crouching at Frank's side, but all three, for a
+wonder, quite silent.  Mr Lavie cast a look seaward, and saw at once
+the explanation of their unusual demeanour.  The ship had been making
+good way for the last hour or two, and was now near enough to the
+Canaries to allow the Peak of Teneriffe to be clearly seen, like a low
+triangular cloud, and the rest of the island was coming gradually into
+clearer sight Mr Lavie joined the party, and set himself to watch what
+is perhaps the grandest spectacle which the bosom of the broad Atlantic
+has to exhibit.  At first the outline of the great mountain, twelve
+thousand feet in height, presented a dull cloudy mass, formless and
+indistinct.  But as the afternoon wore on, the steep cliffs scored with
+lava became visible, and the serrated crests of Anaga grew slowly upon
+the eye.  Then, headland after headland revealed itself, the heavy dark
+grey masses separating themselves into hues of brown and red and
+saffron.  Now appeared the terraced gardens which clothe the cultivated
+sides, and above them the picturesque outlines of the rocks intermingled
+with the foliage of the euphorbia and the myrtle, and here and there
+opening into wild mountain glens which the wing of the bird alone could
+traverse.  Lastly, the iron-bound coast became visible on which the surf
+was breaking in foaming masses, and above the rocky shelf the long low
+line of spires and houses which distinguish the town of Santa Cruz.  For
+a long time the red sunset light was strong enough to make clearly
+distinguishable the dazzling white frontages, the flat roofs, and
+unglazed windows, standing out against the perpendicular walls of
+basaltic rock.  Then a dark mist, rising upwards from the sea, like the
+curtain in the ancient Greek theatre, began to hide the shipping in the
+port, the quays, and the batteries, till the whole town was lost in the
+darkness.  Higher it spread, obscuring the masses of oleander, and
+arbutus, and poinsettia in the gardens, and the sepia tints of the rocks
+above.  Then the white lava fissures were lost to the eye, and the Peak
+alone stood against the darkening sky, its masses of snow bathed in the
+rich rosy light of the expiring sun.  A few minutes more and that too
+was swallowed up in darkness, and the spell which had enchained the four
+spectators of the scene was suddenly dissolved.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+THE CAPE VERDES--DIONYSIUS'S EAR--UNWELCOME NEWS--FRENCH LEAVE--THE
+SKIPPER'S WRATH--A SCRAPE.
+
+Three or four days had passed, the weather appearing each day more
+delicious than the last.  The _Hooghly_ sped smoothly and rapidly before
+the wind, and at daybreak on the fifth morning notice was given that the
+Cape Verde Islands were in sight.  The sky, however, grew thick and
+misty as they neared land; and it was late in the forenoon before they
+had approached near enough to obtain a clear view of it.
+
+"I wonder why they call these islands _Verdes_?" observed Gilbert, as
+the vessel ran along the coast of one of the largest of the group, which
+was low and sandy and apparently barren; "there doesn't seem to be much
+_green_ about them, that I can see."
+
+"No, certainly," said Warley; "a green patch here and there is all there
+is to be seen, so far as the sea-coast is concerned But the interior
+seems a mass of mountains.  There may be plenty of verdure among them,
+for all we know."
+
+"No," said Mr Lavie, who was standing near them.  "Their name has
+nothing to do with forests or grass-fields.  There is a mass of weed on
+the other side of the group, extending for a long distance over the sea,
+which is something like a green meadow to look at--that's the meaning of
+the name.  There are very few woods on any of the islands, and this one
+in particular produces hardly anything but salt."
+
+"They belong to the Portuguese, don't they?" asked Frank.
+
+"Yes; the Portuguese discovered them three centuries and a half ago, and
+have had possession of them ever since.  Portuguese is the only language
+spoken there, but there are very few whites there, nevertheless."
+
+"Why, there must be a lot of inhabitants," remarked Ernest, his eye
+resting on the villages with which the shores were studded.
+
+"Yes, from forty to fifty thousand, I believe.  But they are almost all
+of them half-breeds between the negroes and the Portuguese."
+
+"Well, I suppose there's some fun to be had there, isn't there?"
+inquired Frank.
+
+"And something to be seen?" added Warley.
+
+"And first-chop grub?" wound up Gilbert.  "There's plenty to see at
+Porto Prayo," returned Mr Lavie.  "The town, Ribeira Grande they call
+it, is curious, and there are some fine mountain passes and grand views
+in the interior.  As for grub, Master Nick" (for this sobriquet had
+already become young Gilbert's usual appellative), "there are pretty
+well all the fruits that took your fancy so much at Madeira--figs,
+guavas, bananas, oranges, melons, grapes, pine-apples, and mangos--and
+there's plenty of turtle too, though I'm not sure you'll find it made
+into soup.  But as to fun, Frank, it depends on what you call fun, I
+expect--"
+
+"Let us go ashore," interrupted Nick, "and we shall be safe to find out
+lots of fun for ourselves.  It would be jolly fun, in itself, to be
+walking on hard ground again, instead of these everlasting planks.  I
+suppose, as these islands belong to the Portuguese, and we've no quarrel
+with them, the skipper will go ashore, and allow the passengers to do so
+too?"
+
+"He'll go ashore, no doubt," said a voice close at hand; "but he won't
+let you go, I'll answer for that."
+
+The boys turned quickly round, and were not particularly pleased to see
+the first lieutenant, Mr Grey, who had come aft, to give some orders,
+and had overheard the last part of their conversation.  Mr Grey was no
+favourite of theirs.  He was not downright uncivil to the boys, but he
+was fond of snubbing them whenever an occasion offered itself.  It was
+generally believed also that a good deal of the captain's harshness was
+due to the first lieutenant's suggestions.
+
+"You'd better leave the captain to answer for himself," remarked Frank,
+his cheek flushing with anger.  "I don't see how you can know what he
+means to do."
+
+"Perhaps you mayn't see it, and yet I may," returned Mr Grey calmly.
+
+"Why shouldn't he let us go ashore, as he did at Madeira?" asked Warley.
+"Nothing went wrong there."
+
+"I beg your pardon," replied the lieutenant; "things did go wrong there,
+and he was very much displeased."
+
+"Displeased," repeated Warley, "displeased with us?  What do you mean,
+Mr Grey?"
+
+"I mean that you are not to go ashore," returned the other curtly, and
+walking forward as he spoke.
+
+Ernest's cheek grew almost as crimson as Frank's had done.  The apparent
+insinuation that he had misconducted himself while on his parole of good
+behaviour, was one of the things he could least endure.  Mr Lavie laid
+his hand on the boy's arm.
+
+"Hush, Ernest!" he said, checking an angry exclamation to which he was
+about to give vent.  "Most likely Mr Grey is not serious.  Anyway, if
+the captain does forbid your going ashore, you may be assured he has
+good reasons--"
+
+"What reasons can he have?" interposed Gilbert; "we are no more likely
+to get into trouble here than at Madeira, and who has a right to say we
+did anything wrong there?"
+
+"The first lieutenant _didn't_ say so," observed the surgeon.  "I think
+there is some mistake.  I'll make inquiries about the matter before we
+enter the harbour."
+
+He moved away, and the boys resolved to retreat to their den, where they
+might hold an indignation meeting without molestation.  This den, to
+which its occupants had given the classical name of "Dionysius's ear,"
+or more briefly, "Dionysius," was an empty space on the lower deck,
+about six foot square, where various stores had been stowed away.  By
+some oversight of the men a dozen chests or so had been left ashore, and
+a vacant place in a corner was reserved for them.  When, however, they
+were brought aboard, they could not conveniently be lowered, and were
+secured on deck.  Master Nick, in the course of his restless wandering,
+had lighted on this void space, and it occurred to him that it would
+make a snug place of retreat, when he wished to be alone, as he not
+unfrequently did, in order to escape the consequences of some piece of
+mischief.  When his friendship with his companions had been sufficiently
+cemented, he had communicated the secret to them, and Frank at once
+appreciated its value.  Advantage had been already taken of it on one or
+two occasions, to evade an unwelcome summons from the skipper, or smoke
+a pipe at interdicted hours.
+
+To be sure it was not a very desirable retiring room, and most persons
+would have considered a Russian or Neapolitan dungeon greatly preferable
+to it.  As the reader has heard, it was about six foot square.  It was
+lighted by a dead light in the deck above, which had fortunately been
+inserted just in that spot.  Whatever air there was, came through the
+barrels, or along the ship's sides.  But it is needless to say it was at
+all times suffocatingly close, and nothing but a boy or a salamander
+could have long continued to breathe such an atmosphere.  Entrance was
+obtained by pulling aside a small keg; the removal of which allowed just
+enough room for any one to work his way in, like an earthworm, on his
+stomach.  Then the keg was drawn by the rope attached to it into its
+place again, and firmly secured to a staple in the ship's side.
+Whatever might be its other defects, it was certainly almost impossible
+of detection.
+
+Arrived here, our three heroes lay down at their leisure on some sacks
+with which they had garnished their domicile, and proceeded to discuss
+the matter in hand, lowering their voices as much as possible, as they
+had discovered that conversation might be heard through the barrels by
+any one on the other side, which fact, indeed, was the explanation of
+the name bestowed on their retreat.  They were not at first agreed as to
+the steps to be adopted.  Nick was for going ashore under any
+circumstances--the difficulty of accomplishing his purpose, and the fact
+of his having been forbidden to essay it, being, in his eyes, only
+additional incentives.  Frank was not disposed to make the attempt, if
+his uncle really had interdicted it; but he professed himself certain
+that no such order had been given by anybody but the first lieutenant,
+and he was not, he said, going to be under his orders.  Warley for once
+was inclined to go beyond Frank, and declared that though he would obey
+the captain's order if any reasonable ground for it was assigned, he
+would not be debarred from what he considered his right as a passenger,
+by any man's mere caprice.  He added, however, that he thought it would
+be better to hear what Lavie had found out, before coming to any
+resolution.
+
+"Well, it is time we should see the doctor, if we mean to do so,"
+remarked Frank, after an hour or so had passed in conversation.  "We
+must be entering Porto Prayo by this time, or be near it at all events;
+and he must have had lots of time to find out everything."
+
+"Very good; one of us had better see Mr Lavie at once," said Ernest.
+"I'll go, if you like, and come back to `Dionysius' here, as soon as I
+have anything to tell."
+
+He departed accordingly, and returned in about half an hour, looking
+very cool, but very much annoyed.
+
+"Hallo, Ernest, what's up now?" exclaimed Nick, as he caught sight of
+his face.  "What does the doctor say?"
+
+"I haven't seen the doctor," answered Warley.  "One of the crew has been
+taken dangerously ill, and the doctor has been with him ever since he
+left us."
+
+"What have you learned, then?" asked Frank.  "Are we in the harbour?"
+
+"We're in the harbour, and the skipper's gone ashore.  I saw his boat
+half-way to the beach.  Captain Renton, Mr May, and Mr De Koech have
+gone with him.  They are the only passengers who wanted to go."
+
+"Well, but I suppose there are some shore boats that would take
+passengers to and fro."
+
+"The captain has given orders that no shore boat is to be allowed
+alongside.  He won't even allow the fresh provisions, or the water, to
+be brought aboard by any but the ship's boats.  I saw the largest cutter
+with the empty water-casks in her, lying ready to go ashore presently."
+
+"Who told you this?" inquired Wilmore, half incredulous.
+
+"Old Jennings, the quartermaster.  He has charge of the boat.  He said
+the captain's resolved we shan't leave the ship."
+
+"It's an infamous shame," said Frank.  "I declare I've half a mind to
+swim ashore.  It can't be very far."
+
+"No," said Nick, "but it wouldn't be pleasant to land soaking wet, to
+say nothing of the chance of ground sharks.  Even Lion had better not
+try that dodge.  But I'll tell you what--if the boat is lying off the
+ship's side, with a lot of ankers in her, why shouldn't we creep in
+among them, and go ashore unbeknown to the first lieutenant?"
+
+"We should be seen getting aboard," said Frank.
+
+"No, we shouldn't.  The men are at dinner just now, and we can slip in
+when the backs of the fellows on deck are turned."
+
+"I forgot that," said Frank; "but we should be certain to be seen when
+we landed."
+
+"Ay, no doubt.  But that will be too late, won't it?  Once ashore, I
+guess they must be pretty nimble to catch us; and besides, old Jennings
+is too good-natured to do anything against us, which he isn't obliged to
+do."
+
+"Well, that's true, certainly," returned Wilmore.  "What do you say,
+Warley?  Are you game to make the trial?"
+
+"Yes, I am," returned Ernest.  "I think it is regular tyranny to oblige
+us to stay in the ship, when there is no reason for it, except the
+captain's caprice.  But if we mean to try this, we must make haste."
+
+The three lads hurried on deck; and a glance showed them they were just
+in time.  There were only two or three men to be seen, and they were at
+the other end of the ship.  They skimmed nimbly down the ladder, and
+found no difficulty in concealing themselves at the bow end of the boat,
+which was completely hidden from sight by the empty casks.  They had not
+been in their hiding-place very long, before the old quartermaster and
+his men were heard coming down the side.  The shore was soon reached,
+and the keel had no sooner grated on the sand, than the boys sprang out
+and ran up the beach, saluting old Jennings with a parting cheer as they
+went.
+
+"Well, I never," muttered the old man.  "The cap'en 'ull be in a nice
+taking when he hears of this!  And there ain't no chance but what he
+_will_ hear of it.  We've Andy Duncan in the boat, and he carries
+everything to the first lieutenant, as sure as it happens.  Well, I
+ain't bound to peach, anyhow--that's one comfort!"
+
+Meanwhile the captain had gone on shore, his temper not improved by the
+report of the doctor which had been brought to him as he was leaving the
+vessel, that another of his best hands was rendered useless--for several
+weeks to come at all events--by a bad attack of fever, which might very
+possibly spread through the ship.  He returned on board after nightfall,
+still more provoked and vexed.  He had met with the greatest difficulty
+in his attempts to fill the places of his missing men.  There were, as
+the reader has been told, very few whites on the island, and none of
+them were sailors.  The blacks were very unwilling to engage, except
+upon exorbitant terms, and hardly one of those with whom he spoke
+appeared good for anything.  He had at one time all but given up the
+matter in despair.  But late in the afternoon he was accosted by a
+dark-complexioned man, lean and sinewy as a bloodhound, who informed him
+that the vessel in which he traded between the South African ports and
+the West Indian Islands, had been driven on the Cape Verdes and totally
+wrecked.  But the crew had escaped, he said, and were willing to engage
+with Captain Wilmore for the voyage to Calcutta.
+
+The captain hesitated.  He had little doubt that the lost vessel had
+been a slaver, and he had an instinctive abhorrence of all engaged in
+that horrible traffic.  Still there seemed no other hope of successfully
+prosecuting the voyage, and after all it would be a companionship of
+only a few months.  He resolved to make one effort more to obtain less
+questionable help, and if that should fail, to accept the offer.
+Desiring the stranger to bring his men to the quay in an hour's time, he
+once more entered the town, and made inquiries at all the houses to
+which sailors were likely to resort.  His success was no better than it
+had been before, and he was obliged to close with the proposal of the
+foreign captain.  He liked the looks of the crew even less than those of
+their captain.  There were eighteen of them, however, and all strong
+serviceable fellows, if they chose to work.  He must hope for the best;
+but even the best did not appear very promising; and if the Yankee
+captain, who had been the prime cause of the mischief, had been
+delivered into his hands at that moment, it is to be feared he would
+have met with small mercy.
+
+In this frame of mind he regained the _Hooghly_, and shortly after his
+arrival was informed by the first lieutenant of the escapade of the
+three boys, with the gratuitous addition that he had himself delivered
+them the captain's message--that no one was to be permitted to leave the
+ship, except those who had gone ashore with the captain.
+
+The skipper's wrath fairly boiled over.  He vowed he would straightway
+give his nephew a smart taste of the cat-o'-nine-tails, and put the
+other two into irons, to teach them obedience.  The boatswain
+accordingly was summoned, and the delinquents ordered into custody, but
+after a delay of half an hour, during which the captain's wrath seemed
+to be every moment growing hotter, it was announced that the boys could
+not be found, and the boat's crew sent ashore with the water-casks
+positively declared that they did not return with them.  As no other
+boats but theirs and the captain's had held any communication with the
+land, it appeared certain that the young gentlemen were still on shore,
+intending probably to return by a shore boat later in the evening.
+
+"Do they?" exclaimed Captain Wilmore fiercely, when this likelihood was
+suggested to him by Mr Grey.  "They'll find themselves mistaken, then.
+Up with the anchor, Crossman, and hoist the mainsail.  Before their boat
+has left the quay, we shall be twenty miles from land.  Not a word, Mr
+Lavie.  A month or two's stay in these islands will be a lesson they'll
+keep by them all their lives."
+
+No one ventured to remonstrate.  The anchor was lifted, the great sails
+were set, and in half an hour they were moving southward at a pace which
+soon left the lights of Porto Prayo a mere speck in the distance.
+
+But the boys had not been left behind, though no one but themselves and
+old Jennings was aware of the fact.  He had kept the boat from putting
+off on her return to the ship, on one pretext or another, as long as he
+could venture to do so, in the hope that the lads would make their
+appearance.  But he was aware that Andy Duncan's eye was upon him, and
+could not venture to delay longer.  It happened, however, that soon
+after his return, Mr Lavie had found it necessary to send on shore to
+the hospital for some ice, of which they had none on board, and old
+Jennings had volunteered to go.  He took the smallest boat and no one
+with him but his nephew, Joe Cobbes, who was completely under his
+orders.  He landed at a different place from that at which the boat had
+been moored in the morning, and sent his nephew with the message to the
+hospital.  He then made search after the boys, whom he soon discovered
+at the regular landing-place, waiting anxiously for some means of
+regaining the _Hooghly_.
+
+"Hallo, Jennings," exclaimed Frank, as he caught sight of the old man's
+figure through the fast gathering darkness; "that's all right, then.  I
+was afraid we were going to stay ashore all night?"
+
+"I hope it is all right, sir," answered Jennings, "but if the captain
+finds out that you've been breaking his orders--"
+
+"I don't believe he has given any order--" interrupted Frank.  "And it
+would be monstrous if he had," exclaimed Ernest in the same breath.
+
+"I don't know what you believe, Mr Frank, but it's sartain he has
+ordered that no one shall leave the ship; and I don't know as it's so
+unreasonable, Mr Warley, after the desertion of the hands at Madeira."
+
+"We never heard of their deserting," cried Warley.
+
+"I dare say not, sir.  It was kep' snug.  But that's why the cap'en
+would allow no boats to go ashore, except what couldn't be helped.  You
+see, sir, if more of the men were to make off, there mightn't be enough
+left to work the ship, and if there came a gale--"
+
+"Yes, yes; I understand that," again broke in Frank, "but we didn't know
+anything about their deserting."
+
+"Well, sir, it was giv' out this morning as that was the reason, and
+every one, I thought, knew it.  But anyways, sir, you'd best come and
+get aboard my boat, and keep out of the skipper's way.  He'll be sure to
+find out about your doings.  Andy 'ull tell the first lieutenant, and
+he'll tell the skipper--"
+
+"I am sure I don't care if he does," exclaimed Warley.
+
+"Ah, you don't know him, sir.  He's not a man as it's wise to defy.
+Wait a bit; let him cool down and he's as pleasant a man as any one.
+But when he's put up, old Nick himself can't match him.  I don't mind a
+gale of wind off the Cape, or boarding a Frenchman, or a tussle with a
+pirate, but I durstn't face the cap'en, when he's in one of his takings.
+Come along, and get into the boat."
+
+The lads obeyed, somewhat subdued by Jennings' representations, which
+were evidently given in good faith.  They allowed the old man to cover
+them with a tarpaulin, which he had brought for the purpose, and in
+accordance with his directions lay perfectly still.
+
+Presently Cobbes returned with the ice, and the boat was rowed back to
+the ship.  It was pitch dark before she came alongside, and her approach
+was hardly noticed.  Jennings made for the gangway, and having
+ascertained that Captain Wilmore was still on shore, sent his nephew
+with the ice to the doctor's cabin.  He then suffered the boat to float
+noiselessly to the stern, where he had purposely left one of the cabin
+windows open; through this the boys contrived, with his help, to
+scramble.
+
+"You'd better hide somewhere in the hold, Mr Frank," he whispered, as
+young Wilmore, who was the last, prepared to follow his companions.
+
+"No, on the lower deck, Jennings; we've a hiding-place there, no one
+will find out.  When you think it's safe for us to show ourselves, come
+down, and whistle a bar or two of one of your tunes, and I'll creep out
+to you.  But I hope we shan't be kept very long, or we shall run a risk
+of being starved, though we have got some grub in our pockets.  Good
+night, Jennings, and thank you.  You're a good fellow, any way, whatever
+the captain may be."
+
+"Good night, Mr Frank; mind you keep close till I come to let you out.
+I won't keep you waiting no longer than I can help, you may be sure of
+that."
+
+Wilmore followed his friends; and the three boys, creeping cautiously
+along in the darkness, gained the lower deck unperceived, and were soon
+safely ensconced in "Dionysius."  Tired out with their day's work, they
+all three fell sound asleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+STRANGE TIDINGS--PIRATES ON BOARD--A REVEL--A NARROW ESCAPE--DEATH OF
+JENNINGS.
+
+The boys were awakened next morning by the pitching and tossing of the
+ship.  A storm had come on during the night, which increased in violence
+as the morning advanced.  It was well for the _Hooghly_ that the fresh
+hands had been taken on board, or she would have become wholly
+unmanageable.  Frank and his friends, in their place of retreat, could
+hear the shouts and cries on deck, the rolling of the barrels which had
+broken loose from their fastenings, and the washing of the heavy seas
+which poured over the gunwales.  They made their breakfasts on some of
+the fruit and sausages with which they had filled their pockets on the
+previous evening, and waited anxiously for old Jennings' arrival.  It
+was late in the afternoon before he came, and when he did appear, he
+would not hear of their venturing to show themselves for the present.
+
+"The cap'en wasn't altogether in a pleasant state of mind yesterday," he
+remarked, "but he's in a wuss to-day.  He's found out that the most part
+of his crew ain't worth a tobacco stopper.  I must say the Yankee made a
+good pick of it.  He got away pretty nigh every smart hand we had
+aboard.  These new chaps is the best we has now."
+
+"New chaps?" asked Frank.  "Has my uncle got any fresh hands?"
+
+"Picked up nineteen new 'uns at Port Prayo," replied Jennings.  "Stout
+nimble fellows they are, no doubt.  But I don't greatly conceit them
+neither.  They keep together, and hardly speak to any one aboard, except
+Andy Duncan and Joel White and Bob O'Hara and that lot.  They're no good
+either, to my mind.  Well, young gents, you must stay here till the gale
+breaks, as I guess it will to-morrow, or the next day, and then the
+skipper will be in good-humour again.  I've brought you a heap of
+biscuits and some fruit and a keg of water.  But I mustn't be coming
+down here often, or we shall be found out I've tied the dog up in the
+fo'castle, or he'd be sniffing about after Mr Frank here, and most
+likely find him out."
+
+"Very well, Tom," said Frank, "then we'll wait here.  But it's terribly
+dull work.  Nothing to do but to sleep and smoke."
+
+"I think the skipper would let us off, if he knew what we'd gone through
+during the last twenty-four hours," observed Nick, yawning.  "Well, I
+suppose one must grin and bear it."  So saying, he rolled himself into
+his corner and endeavoured to lose the recollection of his
+_desagrements_ in sleep.
+
+The evening wore on heavily enough.  It was past midnight before the
+gale began to lull, and the lads at length fell sound asleep.  But they
+were roused soon afterwards by a loud commotion on deck.  Voices were
+heard shouting and cursing; one or two shots were fired, and Frank
+fancied he could once or twice distinguish the clash of cutlasses.  But
+presently the tumult died away, and the ship apparently resumed her
+customary discipline.  Daylight came at last, glimmering faintly through
+the crevices of their prison, and the boys lay every minute expecting
+the advent of the old quartermaster.  But the morning passed, and the
+afternoon began to slip away, and still there was no sign of Jennings's
+approach.  The matter was more than once debated whether they should
+issue from their hiding-place, which was now becoming intolerable to
+them, altogether disregarding his advice; or at any rate send out one of
+the party to reconnoitre.  But Ernest urged strongly the wisdom of
+keeping to their original resolution, and Frank after awhile sided with
+him.  It was agreed, however, that if Jennings did not appear on the
+following morning, Warley should betake himself to the doctor's cabin
+and ask his advice.
+
+Accordingly they once more lay down to sleep, and were again awoke in
+the middle of the night, but this time by a voice calling to them in a
+subdued tone through the barrels.
+
+Wilmore, who was the lightest sleeper, started up.  "Who is that?" he
+asked.
+
+"It is I--Tom Jennings," was the answer.  "Don't speak again, but push
+out the barrel that stops the way into your crib there.  I'll manage to
+crawl in, I dare say, though I am a bit lame."
+
+Wilmore saw there was something wrong.  He complied literally with Tom's
+request, and pushed the keg out in silence.  Presently he heard the old
+man making his way, stopping every now and then as if in pain.  At last
+there came the whisper again: "Pull the barrel back into its place, I've
+got a lantern under my coat which I'll bring out when you've made all
+fast."
+
+Frank again obeyed his directions, having first enjoined silence on his
+two companions, who were by this time wide awake.  Then Jennings drew
+out his lantern, and lighted it by the help of a flint and steel.  As
+the light fell on his face and figure, the boys could hardly suppress a
+cry of alarm.  His cheeks were as white as ashes, and in several places
+streaked with clotted blood.  His leg too was rudely bandaged from the
+knee to the ankle, and it was only by a painful effort that he could
+draw it after him.
+
+"What's the matter, Tom?" exclaimed Frank.  "How have you hurt your leg
+in that manner?"
+
+"Hush!  Mr Frank.  We mustn't speak above a whisper.  There's pirates
+on board.  They've got possession of the ship."
+
+"Pirates!" repeated Wilmore.  "What, have we been attacked, and my
+uncle--"
+
+"He's safe, Mr Frank--at least I hope so.  Look here.  You remember
+them foreign chaps as he brought aboard at Porto Prayo?  It was all a
+lie they told the cap'en, about their ship having been lost.  They were
+part of a crew of pirates--that's my belief, any way--as had heard
+Captain Wilmore was short-handed, and wanted to get possession of his
+ship.  They was no sooner aboard than they made friends with some of the
+worst of our hands--Andy and White and O'Hara and the rest on 'em--and I
+make no doubt persuaded them to join 'em.  About ten o'clock last night,
+when the men were nearly all in their berths, worn out with their work
+during the gale, these foreigners crept up on deck, cut down and pitched
+overboard half a dozen of our chaps as were on deck, and then clapped
+down the hatches."
+
+"That was what we heard, then," remarked Gilbert.  "Were you on deck,
+Tom?"
+
+"Yes, sir, I was, and got these two cuts over the head and leg.  By good
+luck I fell close to the companion-ladder and was able at once to crawl
+to my berth, or I should have been pitched overboard.  Well, as soon as
+it was daylight, the captain and the officers laid their heads together
+to contrive some means of regaining the ship; but, before they could
+settle anything, a vessel came in sight, and the fellows on deck hove to
+and let her come up--"
+
+"The pirate ship, I suppose, hey?" cried Frank.
+
+"Yes, sir, no other.  She'd followed us beyond a doubt from Porto Prayo,
+and would have come up before, if it hadn't been for the gale.  There
+wasn't nothing to be done, of course.  The pirates threatened the
+captain, if he didn't surrender at once, that they'd fire down the
+hatchways and afterwards pitch every mother's son overboard.  And they'd
+have done it too."
+
+"Not a doubt," assented Frank.  "So my uncle surrendered?"
+
+"Yes, sir, he did, but he didn't like it.  I must say, from what I've
+heard of these fellows, I judged that they'd have thrown us all in to
+the sea without mercy.  But it seems White and O'Hara and the rest
+wouldn't allow that, and insisted on it that every one, who chose it,
+should be allowed to leave the ship.  I did 'em injustice, I must say."
+
+"What did they go in?" inquired Wilmore, a good deal surprised.
+
+"In the two biggest of the ship's boats, sir.  You see we've been driven
+a long way south by that gale, and are not more than a few hundred miles
+from Ascension.  They'll make for that, and with this wind they've a
+good chance of getting there in three or four days."
+
+"Are all the officers and passengers gone?" asked Warley.
+
+"Well, no, sir.  Mr Lavie ain't gone.  The men stopped him as he was
+stepping into the boat, and declared he shouldn't leave the ship.  But
+all the rest is gone--no one's left except those who've joined the
+mutineers, unless it's poor old Lion, who's still tied up in the
+fo'castle."
+
+"Why, _you_ haven't joined them, Jennings, to be sure?"
+
+"I! no, sir; but with my leg I couldn't have gone aboard the boats; and
+to be sure, I hadn't the chance, for I fainted dead off as soon as I'd
+reached my berth, and didn't come to till after they was gone.  And
+there's my nevvy too--he wouldn't go, but chose to stay behind and nurse
+me.  I hadn't the heart to scold the lad for it."
+
+"Scold him!  I should think not," observed Warley.
+
+"Well, sir, it may get him into trouble if he's caught aboard this ship,
+and I expect he'll get into troubles with these pirates too.  But
+there's no use fretting about what can't be helped.  I'm thinking about
+you young gents.  You see if I'd been in my right senses when they went
+away, I should have told the cap'en about you, and he'd have taken you
+away with him.  But I wasn't sensible like, and no one else then knew as
+you was aboard."
+
+"No one knew it _then_?" repeated Warley.  "No one knows it now, I
+suppose."
+
+"Yes, sir, Mr Lavie knows it, and Joe too; I told them an hour ago, and
+we had a long talk about it.  The doctor's resolved he won't stay in the
+ship, and I suppose you don't want to stay neither?"
+
+"We stay, Tom!" replied Frank.  "No, I should think not indeed, if we
+can help it.  But how are we to get away?"
+
+"This way, sir.  These pirates have been choosing their officers to-day,
+and they've made O'Hara captain.  They say he's the only man who's up to
+navigating the ship.  Anyhow, they've made him captain, and one of the
+foreign chaps, first mate.  They're to have a great supper to-morrow
+night in honour of 'em, and most of the crew--pretty nigh all I should
+say--will be drunk.  Well, then, we claps a lot of things, that Mr
+Lavie has got together, aboard one of the boats--there are enough of us
+to lower her easy enough--and long before daylight you'll be out of
+sight."
+
+"_You'll_ be out of sight.  Don't you mean to go yourself, Jennings?"
+asked Frank.
+
+"My leg won't let me, Mr Frank.  I couldn't get down the ship's side;
+and besides, I ain't in no danger.  My old messmates won't let me be
+hurt, nor Joe Cobbes neither.  I'd best stay here till my leg's right.
+Mr Lavie says it wants nothing but rest, and a little washing now and
+then.  No, sir; Joe and I would rather stay on board here and take the
+first opportunity of leaving the ship that offers.  Mr Lavie and you
+all 'ull bear witness how it happened."
+
+"That we will, Tom," said Warley.  "Well, then, if I understand you,
+we've nothing to do but to remain quiet until to-morrow night, and you
+and Mr Lavie will make all the preparations?"
+
+"Yes, sir, that's right.  Stay quietly here till you've notice that
+everything's ready."
+
+"But I don't like you having all the risk and trouble, Tom," said
+Wilmore.
+
+"You'd do as much for me, sir, and more too, I dare say, if you had the
+chance.  Besides, I am anxious you should get away safe, because you're
+my witnesses that I and Joe had no hand in this.  I shall get well all
+the sooner, when you're gone."
+
+"All right, Jennings," said Warley.  "And now I suppose you want to get
+out of this again?"
+
+"Yes, sir; you must help me.  Getting out will be worse than getting in,
+I am afraid."
+
+The lantern was extinguished, the keg removed, and with much pain and
+difficulty the old man was helped out.  The next twenty-four hours were
+passed in the utmost anxiety by the three lads, who would hardly allow
+themselves even to whisper to one another, for fear of being overheard
+by the pirates.  All the morning they could hear the preparations for
+the feast going on.  Some casks in the lower deck, which, as they knew,
+contained some unusually fine wine, were broken open, and the bottles
+carried on deck.  Planks also were handed up to make tables and benches.
+From the conversation of the men employed in the work, they learned
+that the feast was to take place in the forecastle, none of the cabins
+being large enough to hold the entire party.  Once they caught a mention
+of Mr Lavie's name, and learned that he had been all night in
+attendance on Amos Wood, the sailor who had been attacked by fever at
+Porto Prayo, and that the man had died that morning, and been thrown
+overboard.  The doctor, it was said, had now turned in for a long sleep.
+The boys guessed that his day would be differently employed.  About six
+o'clock in the evening, everything seemed to be in readiness.  The tramp
+of feet above was heard as the men took their places at table, and was
+followed by the rattling of plates and knives and forks, and the oaths
+and noisy laughter of the revellers.  These grew more vociferous as the
+evening passed on, and after an hour or two the uproar was heightened by
+the crash of glass, and the frequent outbreak of quarrels among the
+guests, which were with difficulty suppressed by their more sober
+comrades.  Then benches were overturned, and the noise of bodies falling
+on the deck was heard, as man after man became stupidly intoxicated.
+The uproar gradually died out, until nothing was audible, but drunken
+snores, or the unsteady steps of some few of the sailors, who were
+supposed to be keeping watch.
+
+It was about two hours after midnight when the expected summons came.
+Frank crept out first, followed by Nick and Ernest.  They found Mr
+Lavie and Joe Cobbes waiting for them.
+
+"Everything is ready, Ernest," whispered the doctor.  "We've put as many
+provisions and arms into the jolly-boat as we can safely carry; but you
+had better take a brace of pistols apiece.  There are some one or two of
+the men who are the worse for drink, but still sober enough to know what
+they are doing, and we may have a tussle.  Put on these caps and
+jackets, and come as quick as you can.  The jolly-boat is on the
+starboard side, near the stern.  She's not in the water yet, but
+everything is ready for lowering her.  Quiet's the word."
+
+The boys obeyed.  They crept cautiously on deck, pulling the caps over
+their foreheads, and imitating as well as they could the movements of
+drunken men.  They soon reached the jolly-boat, where old Jennings was
+waiting for them.  The helm had been lashed, but every ten minutes or so
+one of the watch came aft to see that all was right.  Jennings had
+unfastened the lashings and taken the rudder, telling the first man who
+came up that he would see to it for the rest of the watch.  The man
+willingly enough accepted his services, and this skilful manoeuvre saved
+them for the time from further interruption.
+
+"Lower quickly, Mr Lavie," he whispered in the doctor's ear.  "Andy
+Duncan has had liquor enough to make half a dozen men drunk, but he
+knows what he's doing for all that.  He's keeping an eye on the ship,
+and may be down upon us any minute."
+
+He was obeyed promptly and in silence.  The boat was lowered without
+attracting notice.  Warley was the first to slip down the rope, and was
+safely followed by Nick.  Frank was just climbing over the bulwark when
+a man staggered up, and accused them with a volley of drunken oaths of
+intending to desert.
+
+"No, no, Andy," said Jennings quickly, "no one means to desert.  There's
+a man overboard, and we're lowering a boat to pick him up.  Make haste,
+my lad," he continued, addressing Wilmore, "or he'll be too far astern
+for us to help him."
+
+Frank promptly took the cue, and vanished over the side.  For a moment
+Duncan was staggered by the old quartermaster's readiness, but the next
+he caught a momentary glimpse of Frank's features.
+
+"Hallo, that's young Wilmore, that's the captain's nevvy, as you said
+had been left behind," he shouted.  "There's some devilry here!  Help,
+my lads, there!"  He drew a pistol as he spoke, and fired at Mr Lavie's
+head, who was attempting to seize him.
+
+His nerves were unsteady from drink, and the bullet missed its mark; but
+it struck Joe Cobbes on the temple, who fell on the instant stone dead.
+Some of the men, startled by the pistol shot, came reeling up from the
+forecastle.
+
+The doctor struck Andy a heavy blow with the butt end of his pistol, and
+the man dropped insensible on the deck.  He then turned to Jennings.
+"You must go with us now, Tom," he said, "or they will certainly murder
+you.  Go, I tell you, or I'll stay behind myself."
+
+The old man made a great effort and rolled himself over the bulwarks,
+reaching the boat by the help of the rope, and the hands of the boys
+below, though he fainted from pain and exhaustion immediately
+afterwards.
+
+Mr Lavie fired at the nearest man, who dropped with a broken leg.  The
+others hung back alarmed and stupefied.  Lavie skimmed down the rope,
+and disengaged her before they had recovered their senses.  Just at this
+moment there was a heavy splash close beside them.
+
+"Hallo!" cried Ernest, "one of the fellows has fallen overboard.  We
+must take him in.  We can't leave him to drown."
+
+"It isn't any of the crew," said Frank.  "It's old Lion.  I can see his
+head above water.  He has broken his fastenings and followed us.  Haul
+him aboard, Nick."
+
+The dog was soon got in, and Lavie and Warley, seizing the oars, rowed
+away from the ship.  An attempt was made to lower a boat, and one or two
+shots were fired.  But the crew were in no condition for work of any
+kind, and in a few minutes the _Hooghly_ was lost sight of in the
+darkness.  Lavie and Wilmore, who understood the management of a boat,
+hoisted the sail and took the rudder.
+
+Meanwhile, Warley and Gilbert were endeavouring to restore the old
+quartermaster from his swoon.  They threw water in his face, and poured
+some brandy from a flask down his throat, but for a long time without
+any result.  At last the boat was in proper trim, and Mr Lavie set at
+liberty to attend to his patient.  Alarmed at the low state of the
+pulse, and the failure of the efforts to restore consciousness, he
+lighted his lantern, and then discovered that the bottom of the boat was
+deluged with blood.  The bandages had been loosened in the struggle to
+get on board, and the wound had broken out afresh.  The surgeon saw that
+there was now little hope of saving the old man's life.  He succeeded,
+however, in stanching the flow of blood, and again bound up the wound,
+directing that Jennings should be laid in as comfortable a position as
+possible on a heap of jackets in the bow.
+
+This had not been long effected, when morning appeared.  Those who have
+witnessed daybreak in the tropics, will be aware how strange and
+brilliant a contrast it presents to that of northern climates.  The day
+does not slowly gather in the East, changing by imperceptible degrees
+from the depth of gloom to the fulness of light, but springs as it were
+with a single effort into brilliant splendour--an image of the great
+Creator's power when He created the earth and skies--not toiling through
+long ages of successive processes and formations, as some would have us
+believe, but starting at one bound from shapeless chaos into life and
+harmony.
+
+The doctor cast an anxious look at the horizon, and was relieved to find
+that the _Hooghly_ was nowhere visible.  "Well out of that," he
+muttered.  "If we could only bring poor Jennings round, I shouldn't so
+much regret what has happened.  But I am afraid that can't be."  He
+again felt the old man's pulse, and found that he was now conscious
+again, though very feeble.
+
+"Is that Mr Lavie?" he said, opening his eyes.  "I'm glad to see you've
+come off safe, sir.  I hope the young gentlemen are safe too."
+
+"All three of them, Jennings, thank you," was the answer; "not one of
+them has so much as a scratch on him."
+
+"That's hearty, sir.  I am afraid poor Joe--it's all over with him,
+isn't it?"
+
+"I am afraid so, Tom.  But he didn't suffer.  The ball struck him right
+on the temple, and he was gone in a moment."
+
+"Yes, sir, and he was killed doing his duty.  Perhaps if he'd remained
+among them villains, he'd have been led astray by them.  It's best as it
+is, sir.  I only hope you may all get safe to land."
+
+"And you too, Tom," added Frank, who with his two companions had joined
+them unperceived.
+
+"No, Mr Frank, I shall never see land--never see the sun set again, I
+expect.  But I don't know that I'm sorry for that I'm an old man, sir,
+and my nevvy was the last of my family, and I couldn't have lived very
+long any way."
+
+"No," said Mr Lavie, "and you too have met your death in the discharge
+of your duty.  When my time comes, I hope I may be able to say the
+same."
+
+"Ah, doctor, it's little good any on us can do in this world.  It's well
+that there's some one better able to bear the load of our sins than we
+are!  But I want to say a word or two, sir, while I can.  I advised you,
+you'll remember, to run straight for the nearest point of the coast,
+which I judge is about eight hundred miles off.  But I didn't know then
+where them pirates meant to take the _Hooghly_ to.  Their officers only
+let it out last night over their drink.  They were to make the mouth of
+the Congo river, where they've one of their settlements, or whatever
+they call them.  Now, that happens to be just the point you'd be running
+for, and they'd be pretty sure to overhaul you before you reached it.
+You'd better now try to reach the Cape, sir.  It is a long way off--a
+good fortnight's sail, I dare say, even with this wind.  But there's
+food and water enough to last more than that time; and besides, you may
+fall in with an Indiaman."
+
+"We'll take your advice, you may be sure, Jennings."
+
+"I'm glad to hear that, sir.  It makes my mind more easy.  Make for the
+coast, Dr Lavie, but don't try for it north of Cape Frio--that's my
+advice, sir; and I know these latitudes pretty well by this time."
+
+"We'll take care, Jennings," said Warley.  "And now, isn't there
+anything we can do for you?"
+
+"You can say a prayer or two with me, Mr Ernest," replied the old man
+feebly.  "You can't do anything else, that I knows of."
+
+Warley complied, and all kneeling down, he repeated the Lord's Prayer,
+and one or two simple petitions for pardon and support, in which old
+Jennings feebly joined.  Before the sun had risen high in the heavens
+his spirit had passed away.  His body was then reverently committed to
+the deep, and the survivors, in silence and sorrow, sailed away from the
+spot.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+A FOG--WRECKED--A CONSULTATION--SURVEY OF THE SHORE--A STRANGE
+SPECTACLE--THE FIRST NIGHT ON SHORE.
+
+It was early morning.  Lavie and Warley were sitting at the helm
+conversing anxiously, but in subdued tones, unwilling to break the
+slumbers of their two companions, who were lying asleep at their feet,
+with Lion curled up beside them.  It was now sixteen days since they had
+left the ship; and so far as they could ascertain, Table Bay was still
+seven or eight hundred miles distant.  They had been unfortunate in
+their weather.  For the first few days indeed the wind had been
+favourable, and they had made rapid progress.  But on the fifth morning
+there had come a change.  The wind lulled, and for eight and forty hours
+there fell a dead calm.  This was followed by a succession of light
+baffling breezes, during the prevalence of which they could hardly make
+any way.  On the twelfth day the wind was again fair; but their
+provisions, and especially their supply of water, had now run so low,
+that there was little hope of its holding out, even if no further
+_contretemps_ should occur.  Under these circumstances, they had thought
+it better to steer for the nearest point of the African coast.  They
+were now too far to the southward to run any great risk of falling in
+with the pirates, and at whatever point they might make the land, there
+would be a reasonable prospect of obtaining fresh supplies.  The course
+of the boat had accordingly been altered, and for the last three days
+they had been sailing due east.
+
+According to the doctor's calculations they were not more than sixty or
+seventy miles from shore, when the sun set on the previous evening; and
+as they had been running steadily before the wind all night, he fully
+expected to catch sight of it as soon as the morning dawned.  But the
+sky was thick and cloudy, and there was a mist over the sea, rendering
+objects at the distance of a few hundred yards quite undistinguishable.
+
+"We cannot be far from shore," said the doctor.  "My observations, I
+dare say, are not very accurate; but I think I cannot be more than
+twenty or thirty miles wrong, and according to me we ought to have
+sighted land, or rather have been near enough to sight it, three or four
+hours ago."
+
+"I think I can hear the noise of breakers," said Warley, "I have fancied
+so for the last ten minutes.  But there is such a fog, that it is
+impossible to make out anything."
+
+"You are right," said Mr Lavie, setting himself to listen.  "That is
+the beating of surf; we must be close to the shore, but it will be
+dangerous to approach until we can see it more clearly.  We must go
+about."
+
+Ernest obeyed; but the alarm had been taken too late.  Almost at the
+same moment that he turned the rudder, the boat struck upon a reef,
+though not with any great force.  Lavie sprang out and succeeded in
+pushing her off into deep water again, but the blow had damaged her
+bottom, and the water began to come in.
+
+"Bale her out," shouted Lavie to Frank and Nick as he sprang on board
+again.  "I can see the land now.  It's not a quarter of a mile off, and
+she'll keep afloat for that distance.  Take the other oar, Ernest; while
+they bale we must row for that point yonder."
+
+The fog had partially cleared away, and a low sandy shore became here
+and there visible, running out into a long projecting spit on their left
+hand.  This was the spot which Lavie had resolved to make for.  It was
+not more than two or three hundred yards distant, and there was no
+appearance of surf near it.  They rowed with all their strength, the
+other two baling with their hats, in lieu of any more suitable vessels.
+But the water continued to gain on them, nevertheless, though slowly,
+and they had approached within thirty yards of the beach, when she
+struck a second time on a sunk rock, and began to fill rapidly.  They
+all simultaneously leaped out into four-foot water, and by their united
+strength contrived to drag the boat on until her keel rested on the
+sand.  Lavie then seized the longest rope, and running up the low,
+shelving shore, secured the end to a huge mass of drift-wood which lay
+just above high-water mark.  Fortunately the tide was now upon the turn,
+so that in three-quarters of an hour or so she would be left high and
+dry on the beach.
+
+The first impulse of all four was to fall on their knees and return
+thanks for their deliverance, even the thoughtless Nick being, for the
+time, deeply impressed by his narrow escape from death.  Then they
+looked about them.  The fog had now almost disappeared, and a long
+monotonous line of sand hills presented itself in the foreground.
+Behind this appeared a dreary stretch of sand, unenlivened by tree,
+grass, or shrub, for two or three miles at least, when it terminated in
+a range of hills, covered apparently with scrub.  Immediately beyond the
+narrow strip of beach lay a lagoon, extending inland for about a mile.
+This was evidently connected with the sea at high-water; for a great
+many fish had been left stranded in the mud, where they were obliged to
+remain, until the return of the tide again set them at liberty.
+Presently a low growl from Lion startled them, and they noticed an
+animal creeping up round a neighbouring sand hill, which on nearer
+approach they perceived to be a hyena.  It was followed by several
+others of the same kind, which forthwith began devouring the stranded
+fish, while the latter flapped their tails in vain attempts to escape
+from the approach of their enemy.  Availing themselves of the hint thus
+offered them, the boys, who had not yet breakfasted, pulled off their
+shoes and stockings, and followed by Lion, waded into the mud.  The
+hyenas skulked off as they approached, and they soon possessed
+themselves of several large eels and barbel Mr Lavie, whose appetite
+also reminded him that he had eaten nothing that morning, gathered a
+heap of dry weed and drift-wood, and drawing out his burning-glass, soon
+set them ablaze.  Frank undertook to clean and broil the fish, which was
+soon afterwards served up, and pronounced excellent.
+
+By the time they had finished their meal, all the water had run out of
+the boat, and the sand was sufficiently dry to enable them to convey
+their stores on shore.  Having completed this, and covered them with
+tarpaulin to prevent damage from the broiling sun, their next task was
+to turn her over and examine her bottom.  It took the united strength of
+the four to accomplish this; but it had no sooner been done, than it
+became evident that it would be useless to bestow further trouble upon
+her.  The first concussion had merely loosened her timbers, but the
+second had broken a large hole in the bottom; which it was beyond their
+powers of carpentry to repair, even had they possessed all the necessary
+tools.
+
+"Thank God she didn't strike on that sharp rock the first time,"
+exclaimed Lavie, as he saw the fracture; "we should not be standing
+here, if she had."
+
+"Why, we can all swim, Mr Lavie, and it was not more than a quarter of
+a mile from land," observed Gilbert, surprised.
+
+The doctor made no reply, but he pointed out to sea where the black fins
+of more than one shark were visible above the surface.
+
+Nick shuddered and turned pale, and all present again offered an inward
+thanksgiving.
+
+"Well," resumed Frank, after a few moments' silence, "what is to be
+done, then?  I suppose it is pretty certain that she will never float
+again."
+
+"Well, not certain, Frank," suggested Warley.  "There may be some
+fishermen--settlers, or natives--living about here, and they of course
+would have boats, and would therefore be able to repair ours.  The best
+thing will be to make search in all directions, and see if we can
+discover anywhere a fisherman's hut."
+
+"I am afraid there's not much chance of that, Ernest," said Wilmore.
+"If there were any fishermen about here, we should see their boats, or
+any way their nets, not to say their cottages; for they would be
+tolerably sure to live somewhere near the beach."
+
+"The boats might be out to sea, and the nets on board them," suggested
+Gilbert, "and the huts may be anywhere--hidden behind those hillocks of
+sand, perhaps."
+
+"So they may, Nick," observed Mr Lavie, "though I fear there is no very
+great chance of it.  It is worth trying for, at all events.  Look here,
+one of us had better go along the shore to the right, and another to the
+left, until they get to the end of the bay.  From thence they will, in
+all likelihood, be able to see a long way along the coast, and if no
+villages or single dwellings are visible, it will be of no use making
+further search for them.  It will take several hours to reach the end to
+the left there, and that to the right is probably about as far off; but
+it is still so hidden by the fog that, at this distance, it can't be
+made out."
+
+"And what are the other two to do?" asked Frank.
+
+"They had better stay here and make preparations for supper and passing
+the night," said Mr Lavie.  "It is still tolerably early, but whoever
+goes out to explore won't be back till late in the afternoon, and will
+be too tired, I guess, to be willing to set out on a fresh expedition
+then.  Besides, the night falls so rapidly in these latitudes that it
+wouldn't be safe.  Now, I have some skill in hut making, and I think you
+had better leave that part of the job to me."
+
+"By all means, Charles," said Warley; "and Frank here showed himself
+such a capital cook this morning, that I suppose he'll want to undertake
+that office again.  Well, I'm quite ready.  I should like to take the
+left side of the bay, Nick, if you've no objection."
+
+"It's all the same to me," said Nick; "anything for a quiet life--and it
+seems quiet enough out there anyway.  Well, then, I suppose we had
+better be off at once, as I don't want to have to walk very fast.  I
+should like to have Lion, but I suppose he wouldn't follow me."
+
+"No, he's safe to stay with Frank, but you two had better take your guns
+with you," said Mr Lavie.  "I don't suppose you are likely to meet any
+wild animals on these sand flats--nothing worse than a hyena, at any
+rate."
+
+"Thank you kindly, Mr Lavie, I don't particularly want to meet even a
+hyena," said Nick.
+
+"Pooh, Nick, he wouldn't attack you, if he did meet you.  But you may
+want our help for some reason or other, which we can't foresee, and we
+shall be sure to hear you, if you fire.  Here, Nick, you shall have my
+rifle for the nonce.  It is an old favourite of mine, and has seen many
+a day's sport.  And here's Captain Renton's rifle for you, Ernest.  By
+good luck he had asked me to take care of it, so it was safe in my cabin
+the day we got away.  I've never seen it perform; but if it is only one
+half as good an article as he declares, you'll have no cause to complain
+of it."
+
+"How was it that the captain didn't take it with him?" asked Gilbert.
+
+"Because they wouldn't let him," said the surgeon.  "He asked to be
+allowed to fetch it, and looked as savage as he dared to look, when they
+swore they'd allow no firearms to be taken."
+
+"I don't wonder at their not permitting it," observed Wilmore.
+
+"Nor I, Frank.  The wonder to me has always been that they let the
+officers and passengers go at all.  But it seems that such of our men as
+agreed to join these Congo pirates would not do so, except on the
+express condition that the lives of all on board were to be spared; and
+the pirates daren't cross them.  But we mustn't dawdle here talking.
+There's plenty to be done by all of us, and more than we can do, too."
+
+Warley and Nick accordingly set off in opposite directions, and Lavie
+and Frank began their work.  They first took an axe from their stores,
+and choosing from among the drift-wood three of the longest spars,
+resolved to fix two of them in the ground, and lash the third to their
+upper ends.  They selected for this purpose a hollow between two high
+sand hills, about a hundred yards above high-water mark.  Then they were
+to cut six more poles, and lay them on either side against the ridge
+piece, burying the other ends in the sand.  Over this frame-work the
+tarpaulin was to be stretched, and kept in its place by laying some
+heavy pieces of wood on the lower ends.  Thus a small tent would be
+formed, at the bottom of which the boat's sail was to be spread, forming
+a convenient place on which to lay their stores, and make up their beds.
+
+Plainly it would occupy a considerable time to complete these
+arrangements, but they had not advanced half-way, when Nick came
+hurrying back in a state of the greatest excitement, declaring that he
+had seen, at a short distance, the roofs of what was evidently a town of
+considerable size; and on a flat piece of ground adjoining it, a number
+of men--soldiers they seemed to be--in red and white uniforms, drawn out
+in long lines, as if on parade.
+
+"A large town, Nick! soldiers in uniform!" repeated Wilmore in great
+astonishment.  "You must be dreaming."
+
+"I assure you I am not," replied Gilbert, whose demeanour showed that he
+was thoroughly in earnest.  "I could see, quite distinctly above the
+fog, the towers of a church, apparently, and a long row of battlements,
+evidently part of a line of fortifications; and, through openings in the
+mist, the red caps and jackets of the soldiers were as plain as anything
+I ever beheld in my life."
+
+"But it can't be, doctor, can it?" asked Frank.  "I am sure I should be
+glad enough to think we were near any inhabited spot, let alone a large
+city.  But you're pretty certain of our whereabouts, ain't you?"
+
+"Yes; I don't think I can be mistaken very much, and I must be out of
+all reckoning wrong, if this is true.  There is no town, that I know of,
+on this coast, between the Portuguese settlements, which are something
+like eight hundred miles to the north of where I suppose we now are, and
+Cape Town, which is almost as far to the south."
+
+"Well, just come and look for yourself, doctor," said Nick.  "It won't
+take you long.  The place is not above two or three miles off at the
+outside."
+
+"Of course I will go--we'll all go, Nick--Lion and all I am sure I hope
+with all my heart that you may be right.  It will save us a very long
+and dangerous journey if you are."
+
+He caught up a fowling-piece which had belonged to his friend the
+purser, and handed Frank the fourth gun, an ordinary seaman's carbine.
+"Now then, Nick, lead the way."
+
+Gilbert complied, and the whole party stepped out briskly, their
+curiosity, as well as their interest, being strongly awakened.  They
+toiled through the heavy sand, which was only varied by heaps of
+drift-wood flung up by the sea, and the rotten carcasses of mud fish,
+which had been carried too far inland by the tide to be able to recover
+their native element.  The stench, under the burning sun, was almost
+insupportable, and the three adventurers were greatly relieved, when,
+after a walk of three-quarters of an hour, the desert of sand was
+passed, and they ascended a rocky plateau, where some crags, twelve or
+fifteen feet in height, afforded at least some shelter from the rapidly
+increasing heat.  "We are getting near the place now," observed Nick, as
+they reached the last of a long chain of rocks, and came upon a wide and
+apparently level plain, but so much enveloped in mist as to be very
+imperfectly discerned.
+
+"There it is, I declare," exclaimed Frank, who was the first of the
+party to turn the corner of the limestone shelf.  "There it all is--
+houses, fortifications, and soldiers, just as Nick said!"
+
+There, indeed, it was.  At the distance, as it seemed, of scarcely more
+than three hundred feet, were seen distinctly the battlemented walls of
+a city of great size and strength.  There were the gateways, the
+flanking towers, and the embrasures; while behind them rose domes and
+cupolas, and the sharp-peaked roofs of numberless houses, intermingled
+with lofty trees.  Under the walls ran a broad river, the waters of
+which rippled brightly in the sunshine, and upon its banks long lines of
+infantry were drawn up, or what appeared to be infantry, all standing
+silent and motionless as so many statues.
+
+The two boys gazed in the utmost bewilderment at this spectacle, while
+Lion bounded forward, evidently meditating a plunge into the cool and
+sparkling waters.  The astonishment of the party was in no way
+diminished, when the doctor, raising his gun to his shoulder, fired
+directly at the nearest platoon of soldiers, one of whom was seen to
+fall.  The next moment the whole of his companions rose with loud
+screams into the air, and dispersed themselves in all directions.
+Almost at the same moment the walls and battlements of the fortress and
+ridges of roof behind them wavered and shook, and finally vanished from
+the scene, as the smoke of a wood fire is lost in the surrounding
+atmosphere.  In their place appeared a low serrated ridge of rock, on
+which a few stunted shrubs were growing, while in front and behind alike
+extended the interminable waste of sand.
+
+"Here is your soldier, Nick," said the doctor, as he picked up the
+carcass of a large flamingo, which his shot had brought down.  "Here's
+his red cap and jacket--his beak and wings, that is to say--and here are
+his white facings--his neck and chest.  You are not the first by a good
+many that has made that mistake!"
+
+"This is what is called a mirage, then?" said Frank.  "I've often heard
+of it, and longed to see it; and it is a more extraordinary delusion
+than I could have supposed possible.  Why that low line of rock there,
+and those dwarf shrubs looked as if they were at least sixty feet high.
+How in the world do you account for it, Mr Lavie?  Why even Lion was
+taken in!"
+
+"I am afraid I cannot give you an explanation, which you will understand
+very clearly, Frank.  It is caused by the inequality of the temperature
+in the lower strata of the air; which again is the result of the
+reflected heat of the sun's rays on the barren, sandy plain.  While the
+strata are unequally heated, these curious reflections, which are like
+those seen in broken mirrors, continue to deceive the eye.  Objects
+appear to be raised high into the air, which in reality are to be found
+on the surface of the earth, often too they are immensely magnified, as
+indeed you saw just now; a single stone will seem the size of a house,
+and an insignificant shrub look as big as a forest tree.  But when the
+sun gains sufficient power to raise all the strata to a uniform heat,
+the mirage melts away."
+
+"But your shot seemed to disperse it just now."
+
+"So it did.  But my shot only disturbed the strata; and if the mirage
+had not been nearly on the point of vanishing, from the increasing solar
+heat, I doubt whether the same effect would have followed.  But it is
+time for us to go back to our hut and finish our work.  Nick, I suppose
+you will join us?  We may see pretty plainly for ourselves that there
+are no fishermen's huts in this quarter."
+
+Nick assented, and the three, after a short rest under the shade of the
+rocks, returned to the spot whence they had set out, and resumed their
+work.  By two o'clock the two uprights were fixed in the sand, and in
+two hours afterwards the tent was complete.  All the stores were then
+carefully conveyed inside, the keg of gunpowder being buried in the sand
+to prevent the possibility of accident.  Then the two lads set about
+preparations for supper, which was to consist, like that of the morning,
+of fish broiled on the embers.
+
+"And a very good supper too," observed Nick; "I don't think I ever ate a
+finer fish than this cod here."
+
+"It's first-rate, there's no doubt of that," returned Frank; "but I must
+own I should like something besides.  I suppose your flamingo there
+wouldn't be very good eating?"
+
+"I expect not," replied Lavie.  "The flamingo is too gross a feeder to
+make very good food itself.  One might eat it, I dare say, if there was
+nothing else to be had.  I have eaten lion steaks once in my life, but I
+have no ambition to repeat the experiment.  No, I don't propose to make
+any further use of my flamingo than to cut off one of his beautiful red
+wings to make a fan of, and hand the rest of the bird over to Lion.
+What a splendid-looking bird he was; it really seems almost a shame to
+kill him!"
+
+They all gathered round to admire him.  The colours in which nature had
+dressed him, showed that he was one of her favourite children.  The long
+thin legs--they were two feet and some inches in length--were of the
+most delicate shade of pink, and shaped with wonderful grace.  The short
+thigh, chest, and neck were covered with down, the softest and whitest
+that can be imagined.  But the great beauty of the creature lay in its
+wings, in which the brilliant scarlet and pure white hues were
+intermingled with wonderful delicacy and grace, both colours being
+bordered and thrown out by the deep black of the under feathers.
+
+"I wish I could stuff that specimen," said the doctor, as he
+contemplated the dead bird.  "It would be the making of a collection.
+It can't stand less than four foot four, or perhaps four foot six high.
+However, I'm afraid it's rather out of place to be thinking of
+collections.  It will be a good job," he muttered to himself, "if we are
+not put into a collection ourselves by some Hottentot or Damara chief
+But it won't do to hint that to the boys."
+
+He seated himself on one of the casks in the shelter of the tent, and
+appeared to be watching the preparations for supper, lost, in reality,
+in a reverie of mingled pain and pleasure.  He was roused at last by the
+information that Warley was returning; and presently the youth himself
+appeared on the scene, throwing down, to Frank's great satisfaction, a
+brace of wild ducks which he had been fortunate enough to shoot.  His
+report, however, was not encouraging.  He had reached the extremity of
+the bay, and had ascended an eminence, perhaps two or three hundred feet
+high; but nothing was to be discerned from it but long wastes of mingled
+rock and sand, varied here and there by thickets of euphorbia, or
+monotonous scrub.  In the distance indeed were lofty mountains; but it
+was impossible to say, in that transparent atmosphere, how distant they
+might be.  As regards the more immediate object of his expedition--the
+discovery of some trace of man--it had been an entire failure.
+
+While Warley was delivering his report to the doctor, the other two were
+busied in plucking and roasting the ducks.  Presently it was announced
+that all was ready, and the four sat down to their repast with an
+appetite sharpened by a long day of exertion.  It was no sooner over
+than fatigue began to assert itself in place of hunger.  It was agreed
+that the fire should be kept up all night, and that each should watch
+for two hours by it.  It was now nearly nine o'clock, and the last watch
+would thus bring them to five in the morning, when it would be desirable
+that all four should be awakened to the heavy day's work, which (as none
+of them doubted) lay before them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+PLANS--THE BOYS SET OUT--A DISAPPOINTMENT--THE FIRST BOK--WATER!
+WATER!--A MIDNIGHT VISITOR.
+
+The whole party slept soundly, and by six o'clock were sitting under
+their tent over the remains of their breakfast.  Frank and Nick were on
+the point of issuing forth to collect some more fish for the mid-day
+meal, when the doctor called to them to stop.
+
+"It is time," he said, "that we hold a consultation, and come to some
+resolution respecting our future movements.  Sit down here in the shade,
+and we'll talk the matter over."
+
+The boys obeyed, and took their places; Lion, as usual, seating himself
+at Frank's side, and occasionally bestowing a broad lick of affection on
+his face and hands.
+
+"I have made a fresh examination of the boat this morning," began Lavie,
+"and am quite satisfied that it is impossible for us to repair her.  She
+is an old boat, and wouldn't anyway have lasted much longer, and now she
+is so much hurt, that no one but a regular boat-builder could make her
+float again.  It is impossible therefore to carry out our original
+intention of going on to Cape Town by sea.  Well, then, we must hit on
+some other plan."
+
+"Wouldn't it be the simplest way to travel along the line of coast the
+whole way?" suggested Ernest.  "As far as I remember my geography, there
+are no bays running far inland, or very wide rivers to interfere with
+us."
+
+"You're right, Ernest," rejoined Lavie.  "There are nothing but small
+bays all the way, and until we reached the mouth of the Gariep, there
+would be no rivers to interfere with us."
+
+"And when we did reach the Gariep, said Frank, we should be pretty safe
+to fall in with some settlers or, any way, natives, who, `for a
+consideration,' would help us through the rest of our journey.  I think
+Ernest's advice very good."
+
+"I should think it so also, Frank," said the surgeon, "if I didn't
+happen to know something of the line of country proposed.  I have never
+been along it myself, but I have met people who know it well.  It is one
+long sandy waste the entire way--no trees, no grass, scarcely even a
+rock; and if there are any water-springs, they are so few and scanty,
+that it is almost the same thing as if there were none at all.  There
+would be no food to be obtained, no shade from the sun, and no
+resting-place at night, as it would be impossible to carry our tent with
+us.  And, to wind up, we should certainly not meet with a human being
+from the beginning of our journey to its end."
+
+"Well, that is pretty nearly enough, I think," observed Nick, "I have no
+fancy to be broiled like a fish on a gridiron, or have a leg of nothing
+and no turnips for dinner, like the clown in a pantomime.  Let us hear
+what you propose."
+
+"I advise that we should travel towards the east, until we come to the
+banks of one of the rivers which run southward into the Gariep.  I know
+there are several at no very great distance from the coast: we can
+follow any one of these to its junction with the great river.  When we
+have once got there, I have no doubt what Frank suggested is true
+enough.  We shall come to the farmhouse of a Dutch boor, or a Hottentot
+village, or fall in with a hunting party, and so find the means of
+reaching Cape Town."
+
+"That sounds feasible," said Frank.  "We shall be sure of water, at all
+events, by going that way, and water's the first thing to be thought
+of."
+
+"And there'll be plenty of game, most likely," added Lavie, "and, any
+way, fish."
+
+"And shade from the heat of the sun, and resting-places at night," said
+Warley.
+
+"But how about the wild beasts and the snakes?" struck in Nick.
+"Wouldn't it be better to make a canoe, or a raft, and sail down the
+river itself?"
+
+"That is not a bad idea, Nick," said Frank.  "What do you say to that,
+Charles?"
+
+"That it would be a very good idea on some rivers, but not on these,"
+answered Lavie.  "Nick has never seen one of these South African rivers,
+or he'd never suggest it.  At times, the channels here are reduced to
+mere threads, along which no boat that was ever made could pass; at
+others, they are swollen to raging torrents, which would shatter them to
+fragments.  A boat journey to the Gariep is out of the question."
+
+"Very well, then, we must make the journey along the banks," said
+Warley.  "Of course we must follow your advice, Charles.  You know a
+good deal about the country between this and Table Bay, while we know
+absolutely nothing.  I suppose you would recommend that we should set
+off, as soon as possible, for the nearest river that runs southward?"
+
+"Yes," said Lavie, "there is no kind of object in delaying here.  There
+is neither food nor shelter to be had here, neither shade nor water; and
+the stench from the mud and the dead fish is very far from fragrant.  I
+counsel that we move off with as little delay as possible."
+
+"Hear, hear," said Frank; "I am quite of the same mind.  Well, then,
+Charles, the next thing is, what are we to take with us?  The boat would
+have held as much as we were likely to want; but our backs and pouches
+are different things."
+
+"Quite so, Frank--that was the next thing I was going to speak about.
+We must, of course, leave by far the greater part of our cargo behind.
+In fact, we must cumber ourselves with as little baggage as possible.
+But some things will be absolutely necessary.  There are the guns and
+powder-flasks and bullets.  We cannot do without them."
+
+"That is voted, _nem. con._," said Warley; "and there is the flint and
+steel and tinder-box.  The doctor's burning-glass will be no good when
+the sun doesn't shine."
+
+"And we shall want the gridiron, and the knife and spoon and cup, and
+the iron pot for cooking and holding water," struck in Nick.
+
+"Each of us ought to carry a change of linen," said Mr Lavie, "and a
+second pair of shoes; but no more, I think.  I suppose one brush and
+comb must serve all four."
+
+"I hope you'll take your lancets, Charles, and some physic, in case of
+any of us being taken ill," suggested Warley.
+
+"I am not likely to forget that, Ernest," returned the surgeon.  "Very
+well, then, that will be all.  We had better each provide ourselves with
+the articles agreed on, make a hearty meal off some of the salt meat and
+biscuit, and then set off at once, leaving everything else in the boat,
+for the benefit of any one who may be thrown up, like ourselves, on
+these barren flats."
+
+No one urging farther objection, this programme was forthwith carried
+out.  Belts and knapsacks were adjusted, the various articles required
+for the general use were divided between the four, a hasty meal was
+eaten, and then each man took his gun, and the party bade farewell to
+the old boat and low sandy shore, and set forth on their travels.
+
+They soon surmounted the rocky shelf which they had visited on the
+previous day, and, passing through an opening in the barren hills,
+entered a valley, which seemed even more dreary than the scene they had
+just quitted.  On either side were rocks of a dull grey colour, broken
+into all kinds of fantastic shapes, and full of holes and winding
+caverns, which suggested the possible neighbourhood of venomous snakes.
+Nick, in particular, cast many a suspicious glance at these orifices;
+which seemed to his imagination the lurking-places, whence at any moment
+the hideous head of a cobra or python might rear itself, preparatory to
+a deadly spring on its victim.  He was greatly relieved when, after an
+hour or two of walking, the valley gradually opened into a wide plain,
+and patches of vegetation began to show themselves.  The euphorbia was
+the first to appear, with its tall stiff bunches of foliage, each of
+which bore a curious resemblance to a chandelier with its cluster of
+candles.  Then the kameel-doorn, the dwarf acacia, and the wild
+pomegranate began to vary the landscape with their contrast of colours;
+and presently there appeared the aloe and the mimosa, the bright yellow
+of the last-named reminding Ernest of the gorse and broom among which
+his walks had so often lain.
+
+But though there was a great improvement in respect of the scenery, its
+most important accessory, water, was nowhere to be found.  Lavie looked
+anxiously on all sides for some indication of the vicinity of the river;
+which, if his information was correct, lay only a few miles eastward of
+the spot where they had landed.  They could hardly have mistaken the
+way, for no other opening in the rocks had been visible in any
+direction, except that which they had pursued; and the gradual downward
+slope of the glen could hardly end in anything but water.  But they had
+now been travelling since mid-day, only sitting down to rest for a few
+minutes, at intervals of two hours or so; and now the sunset was near at
+hand.  He was greatly rejoiced when, on turning the corner of a dense
+clump of euphorbias, they came in sight of what was evidently the course
+of the river, though the dense bushes on either side hid the stream from
+view.
+
+"Hurrah! my lads," shouted the doctor; "now for a good drink, and a cool
+bath too, if the water is only deep enough."
+
+He broke into a run as he spoke, and was joined by the other three, who
+forgot their weariness and anxiety in the excitement of the moment Lion
+bounded along at Frank's side, as eager apparently as his master.  They
+were the first to reach the fringe of shrubs, into which they plunged
+with headlong haste.  But the next moment there came a loud cry of
+disappointment; the others hurried up, but only to catch sight of Frank
+and Lion standing over a dry bed of sand, which had evidently once been
+the channel of the river.  There was now not the slightest trace of
+water to be seen.  The sand was not even moist.  Lavie now felt
+extremely anxious.  There were rivers he knew lying to the eastward, and
+that at no very great distance, twenty or thirty miles at the outside,
+and probably they were not so far off as even twenty miles: and if so,
+the strength of the whole party might hold out until the nearest was
+attained.  But then the lads were not used to roughing it in the desert;
+and they might miss the track and become too exhausted to travel
+further.  He had fully reckoned on finding water at the spot which they
+had now reached, or he would have brought a supply with him from the
+water-cask in the boat, which had still contained several gallons.  But
+it was too late now to think of returning that night to the seashore,
+and besides, such a step would naturally alarm and depress his
+companions.  The best chance would be to proceed on their way as long as
+daylight lasted, and take the chance of falling in with some of the
+springs or pools, which are scattered about, though at rare intervals,
+in this inhospitable land.
+
+"Well, that's a nuisance," he exclaimed aloud, as he gazed into the
+blank faces, and marked the dry parched lips of the boys.  "That's a
+nuisance, but it can't be helped.  Better luck next time.  We had better
+step out as fast as we can while daylight lasts.  We are safe to come to
+water, sooner or later, even in this country."
+
+"All right, Charles," said Frank; "the sooner we reach it the better.
+We must step out, best pace."
+
+The other two made no remark, but they also quickened their walk.
+Emerging from the bushes, Mr Lavie pursued his route due eastward,
+though the path he followed did not seem very likely to fulfil his
+hopes.  It lay along a bare hillside, over which huge boulders of rock
+were scattered; while the vegetation growing more and more scarce every
+mile of the way, at last ended in a waste as barren as that which they
+had traversed at the outset of their journey.  It was, indeed, very much
+the same character of scenery as before, only that they were no longer
+shut in by a hollow defile in the hill.  On either sides there rose high
+shelves of stone pierced by what seemed to be caverns running far
+inward.  Between these masses of rock, long vistas of bare stony plains
+presented themselves, seeming to the belated travellers the very picture
+of desolation.
+
+The sun was now fast setting; there remained scarcely an hour of
+daylight, and for all they could see, Lavie and his party would have to
+continue their journey by starlight, or bivouac on the sand.  Suddenly
+at this moment, Lion, who had been tramping along for the last hour or
+two, as much depressed apparently as any of the party, stood still,
+sniffed the air for a moment or two, and then sprang forward with a
+joyous bark, turning round, when he had proceeded a few yards, as if
+inviting Frank to follow him.
+
+"Don't call him back, Frank," said Mr Lavie as Wilmore shouted after
+him.  "His instinct is much keener than ours.  Either there is some
+animal near at hand, which you may shoot for supper; or, as I earnestly
+hope may be the case, he scents water.  Cock your gun, and go after
+him."
+
+"I am afraid there is but little chance of his finding water here," said
+Ernest, as Wilmore hastened forward.  "There is nothing to be seen
+anywhere but hard crag-stone and dry sand.  But he may put up some game
+among the rocks there which he is scrambling up.  Ha! and so he has," he
+added the moment after, as a steinbok came bounding down the cliff.
+"Now, then, to test Captain Renton's rifle."
+
+He drew the trigger as he spoke, and the animal dropped on its knees,
+but rose the next minute and was making off, when a shot from Lavie
+again brought it down.  They ran up and found that the steinbok was
+already dead.  Ernest's bullet had struck it in the side, and inflicted
+what would probably have proved a mortal wound, though it would, for the
+time, have succeeded in effecting its escape.  But Lavie had aimed
+directly at the heart, and his shot having gone true, death was
+instantaneous.
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted Frank, at this moment, waving his cap on the shelf of
+rock above.  "Three cheers for old Lion.  It is all right now."
+
+"All right as regards the meat, Frank," said Nick, "but how about the
+drink?  A fellow in this wicked world requires to drink as well as to
+eat--at all events, I do."
+
+"Meat," repeated Frank, peering over the edge of the precipice, which
+might perhaps be a dozen feet in height.  "Have you got any meat?  Did
+you kill anything when you fired just now?"
+
+"To be sure we did, Frank," said Warley.  "We're not given to miss in
+our part of the world.  We've brought down as nice a young steinbok as
+you'd wish to eat.  If you'd only find us some water to match, we should
+be quite set up."
+
+"Water! why, that is just what we _have_ found.  Here has old Lion
+lighted on a well of water, the most delicious that any fellow ever
+drank of."
+
+"Water! what, up there?  You don't say so.  Hurrah! here goes."  Laying
+down their guns, the three thirsty travellers speedily climbed the stony
+heights, and stood by their companion's side, when their eyes were
+gratified by a very strange as well as a very welcome spectacle.
+
+In the very middle of the plateau of rock surmounting the precipitous
+ascent appeared a circular hole, some three or four feet in diameter,
+and so deep, that its bottom could not be discerned.  The cavity was
+evidently natural; nor indeed did either the Hottentots or the Bushmen--
+the only tribes by whom the spot was ever visited--possess either the
+tools or the patience necessary for so laborious a work.  It was
+doubtless what is sometimes called, though most erroneously, a freak of
+nature--one of those beneficent provisions, more than one of which we
+shall have to notice in the course of this story, by which the
+providence of God supplies the wants of His creatures in the desolate
+wastes; without which help they must inevitably perish.  The hole had
+retained the rain, with which it had been filled a week or two
+previously, and the water being sheltered by the surrounding rocks from
+the burning rays of the sun, was sweet, clear, and deliciously cool to
+the taste.  The cup was passed round and round again, before the thirsty
+travellers were satisfied, and even then they were half disposed to envy
+Lion's simpler mode of satisfying his drought, viz., by plunging head
+over ears into the well, and imbibing at every pore the refreshing
+moisture.
+
+At length thirst was satisfied, and gave way to hunger.  Descending from
+the rocky platform, they set themselves to prepare their supper.  Nick
+collected the grey leafless shrubs, which grew in abundance among the
+rocks; and which, though anything but picturesque in appearance, made
+capital firewood.  Frank cut up the carcass, broiling some parts of it
+on the gridiron, and boiling as much more as the pot would hold.  It was
+dark long before their preparations were completed, and they had to eat
+their dinner by the light of their fire, assisted by the stars, for the
+moon had not yet risen.  But the road to the mouth is very easy to find,
+especially when men are hungry.  They all four soon finished a most
+excellent meal.  Then the fragments of the repast were handed over to
+Lion--Frank declared he ought to have been called to the chair, and his
+health drunk with all the honours--and arrangements were made for the
+night.  Some of the shrubs which Nick had collected, and which had not
+been used for the fire, made very comfortable beds.  These were spread
+inside one of the largest caverns, though not before Nick had carefully
+examined its recesses by the help of a blazing log, to make sure that
+they contained no venomous reptiles.  Lion stretched himself out to
+sleep at the entrance of the cave; and it was considered that his
+instinct might be trusted to warn them against the approach of danger,
+without additional precautions.  In a few minutes they were all sound
+asleep.
+
+They might have slept for perhaps three hours, when Frank, whose
+slumbers were unusually light, was roused by a low growl close to him.
+Looking round, he saw Lion standing in the entrance of the cave over the
+remains of the steinbok, only a part of which had been eaten.  Frank
+remembered that the carcass had been left at some little distance from
+their sleeping-place; and the dog, therefore, must have dragged it to
+its present place.  Something unusual must have occurred to make him do
+this; and besides, the attitude of the animal, his hair bristling, his
+chest advanced, his muscles stretched to their full tension, and the
+fierce glare in his eye showed plainly enough that he beheld some
+formidable enemy.
+
+"A hyena has scented the carcass, I have no doubt," thought Frank, "but
+I can hardly afford to throw away a shot upon him.  He must be driven
+away, though, or we shall get no rest."
+
+He stepped noiselessly up to the entrance, but recoiled instantly at the
+sight he beheld, and it was with difficulty that he stifled a cry of
+alarm.  At a distance of about four yards, the outline of its
+magnificent figure clearly revealed in the bright moonlight, a lion of
+the largest size was crouching, evidently preparing itself to spring!
+Frank had never seen one of these animals, except in captivity.  About a
+twelvemonth before, during his stay in London, Captain Wilmore had taken
+him to Exeter 'Change, where one or two lions were exhibited.  But these
+were small of their kind, and enfeebled by age and long captivity.  They
+bore no more resemblance to the glorious and terrible creature with
+which Frank was now confronted, than the trickling stream which glides
+lazily over the ledge of the rocks bears to the foaming cataract,
+swollen by snows and rains.
+
+He perceived in a moment what had taken place.  The lion had come to the
+water to drink; and the dog, scenting the approach of some beast of
+prey, had possessed itself of the remains of the steinbok, which would
+otherwise fall a prey to the marauder.  The lion in its turn had
+discovered the vicinity of food, and had leaped down from the rock to
+seize it.  All this passed through Frank's mind in a moment.  It could
+hardly be called thinking, but was rather like a sudden revelation.  He
+felt, too, the necessity of killing the monster without a moment's loss
+of time, or all their lives would be imperilled.  He stooped
+noiselessly, and picked up the nearest gun, which chanced by good
+fortune to be Captain Renton's rifle.  Frank was a steady shot, as the
+reader has already been told; but he had never fired at a mark like
+this.  He recalled, on the instant, what he had heard Mr Lavie say that
+the only spots in a wild animal's body in which a bullet could be lodged
+with the certainty of causing instant death, were the ear, the eye, and
+immediately behind the shoulder, where there was a direct passage to the
+heart.  It was impossible to aim at either ear or shoulder in the
+present instance, as the animal was standing directly facing him.  The
+eye, therefore, which flashed large and yellow upon him in the broad
+glare of the moonlight--the eye must be his mark.  He raised the rifle
+and brought it down to the level of his eye, drawing trigger the moment
+he had done so.  It was well for him that his aim was true, and his hand
+steady.  As the barrel dropped to its place, the metal flashed in the
+moonbeam, and its glitter seemed to rouse the creature from its
+momentary torpor.  It rose into the air at the very moment at which the
+bullet struck it, and if the latter had not been aimed with the most
+perfect accuracy, there would have been an end of the mastiff, and
+probably of his master also.  But the shot passed directly through the
+eyeball, and lodged in the brain, causing instantaneous death.  The
+muscular power communicated to the limbs failed even before the leap was
+accomplished.  A furious roar burst from the king of the forest as he
+felt the wound, but it died off abruptly, and the vast carcass fell, a
+lifeless mass, within two feet of the entrance of the cavern.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+A SECOND VISITOR--NICK'S CLUB--A HALT--A MYSTERIOUS CRY--A NEW MODE OF
+IMPRISONMENT.
+
+The noise of the gun, and the dying roar of the lion, roused the whole
+party from their slumbers; and in another minute they were standing
+round the fallen monster, eagerly asking for information.
+
+"You did that well, Frank," said the surgeon, after carefully examining
+the wound; "just in the right place, and at the right moment.  Half an
+inch either way, or ten seconds later, and there would have been a very
+different story to tell.  You'll be a mighty hunter one of these days, I
+expect.  It's very few who have made their _debut_ with a shot like
+this.  But we must make sure that there are no more of them about.  It's
+strange that I should have forgotten the likelihood of beasts coming
+down at night to drink, or the risk there would be of an encounter
+between them and Lion.  Get in, you old rogue," he continued, giving the
+dog a playful kick in the ribs, and driving him inside the cave, where
+he secured him to a large fragment of rock.  "You don't know what an
+escape you've had.  You are ready enough to fight, I don't doubt, but
+`cave cui incurras,' as the Latin grammar says, Master Lion; a single
+single blow of that brute's paw would have been enough to break a
+horse's back, let alone a dog's.  There, stand in the entrance with your
+gun, Nick, and keep a sharp look out, while we go to examine the well."
+
+The lads took their guns, and the three making a considerable _detour_
+to the left, cautiously ascended the rocks, until they gained a higher
+shelf than that in which the well was situated, and then looked over.
+The moon had by this time begun to set, and the steep summit of the
+crags behind them intercepted its light, throwing the shelf into deep
+shadow.  A dark mass was indistinctly visible, lying immediately on the
+edge of the well, partly indeed protruding over it.  "That's the lioness
+drinking," whispered Frank.  "She has most likely followed her lord to
+the water, and has only just arrived here."
+
+"Most likely," answered the doctor in the same cautious tone, "but don't
+fire.  You can't see her plain enough to take a sure aim at her, and a
+mere wound would only enrage her.  Leave her to me.  As soon as she has
+done drinking, she'll get up, and then we shall have a clear sight of
+her."
+
+They waited patiently for several minutes.  It became evident that the
+animal was not, as they had supposed, drinking, but was either asleep or
+refreshing herself with the cool air, which the close proximity of the
+water produced.  In either case it was impossible to conjecture how long
+she might retain her present attitude.  "Let drop a stone upon her,
+Ernest," whispered the doctor.  "That will put her up.  I have my rifle
+all ready."
+
+Warley looked round him.  There was no stone near at hand, but he
+detached his shot-flask from his belt and threw it with a skilful aim,
+striking the lioness on the flank.  She instantly sprang to her feet;
+but just as Ernest discharged his missile there came a dense cloud over
+the moon, and the figure of the animal was lost to sight.  Before the
+cloud could quite pass away again, the lioness gave vent to a low savage
+roar.  She had caught sight, notwithstanding the darkness, of the
+carcass below, and sprang down to examine it.  "I wonder how Nick will
+get on with her?" exclaimed Frank.  "He's no great shot.  I think we had
+better go down to the rescue.  Just hold my gun, Ernest, while I slip
+down."
+
+Handing his rifle to his companion, he slid down the projecting face of
+the precipice, feet first, and then called to Warley to lower his weapon
+after him.  Mr Lavie reached the shelf almost at the same moment, and
+both pressed forward with some anxiety to see what was passing below.
+The spectacle they beheld would have been extremely ludicrous, if it had
+not been still more alarming.
+
+Forgetting or disregarding Lavie's directions, Gilbert had laid aside
+his gun as soon as his companions left him, and had gone to make an
+examination of the lion--an animal which he had never before seen.  He
+was greatly struck by the enormous size and vast strength of creature,
+and stood for a few moments considering whether he might not be able to
+carry away some souvenir of the adventure.  A lock of his shaggy mane,
+or one of his huge teeth, were the first mementos which suggested
+themselves to him.  It would be difficult, however, to obtain one of the
+last-named articles--that is without the help of certain tools which
+they had not in their possession.  No, it must be a lock of the
+gentleman's hair, which could be easily enough to procure, and equally
+easy to preserve, though the keepsake would be somewhat cumbrous.  He
+picked up the knife, which Frank had left on a slab of stone near the
+entrance of the cave, and proceeded to choose the place whence the
+ringlet was to be cut.  Suddenly it occurred to him that the tuft at the
+extremity of the tail would be extremely suitable for the purpose; or
+why, by the way, should he not retain the entire tail?  Mr Lavie had
+been telling them, only that evening, of the practice adopted by the
+Bushmen of wearing a belt round the waist, by which the pangs of hunger
+were considerably mitigated.  To judge by what happened yesterday, such
+a belt might be extremely serviceable, and the skin of the lion's tail
+would make a famous belt.  At all events there could be no harm in
+cutting the tail off; and this he effected easily enough by the aid of
+Mr Lavie's hatchet.  He was still engaged in examining his treasure by
+the imperfect light, when a whirling noise was heard over head, and a
+large object of some kind dropped within a few feet of him.
+
+A good deal startled, Nick let fall the hatchet and grasping the upper
+end of the tail with both hands, whirled it, like a flail round his
+head.  At the same moment the moon again broke out, and he perceived
+that his new companion was a large lioness, whose fierce growls were
+evidently the preliminary to a still fiercer assault.  Nick gave himself
+up for dead; and if the attention of the animal had in the first
+instance been directed to him, there would indeed have been but small
+hope of escape for him.  But the lioness had scented the dead body, and
+she proceeded to examine it all over, sniffing the tainted air, and
+uttering every now and then a low howl, like a mourning cry.  Nick would
+have retreated to the cover of the cavern, but a feeling of fascination
+held him to the spot; and he continued to swing the tail right and left,
+apparently hardly conscious of what he was doing.  Presently, the mood
+of the lioness seemed to change, and the notion to occur to her of
+taking vengeance for the ruthless slaughter of her mate.  She glared
+fiercely at Nick, and gave vent to a low roar.  She would, in fact, have
+instantly sprung upon him, but that the whirl of the tail immediately in
+front of her nose, dazed and bewildered her for the moment, and kept her
+at bay.  This could not, however, have lasted, and Nick's career would
+soon have been run, if rescue had not been at hand.  But at this moment
+the crack of the doctor's rifle was heard, and the brute, shot through
+the heart, rolled over in the death struggle.
+
+"Bravo, Nick," exclaimed Lavie, as he leaped down from the rock.
+"Hercules himself never wielded his club more valiantly, than you did
+the lion's tail.  I was sorry to keep you so long in suspense, but the
+beast persistently kept her back towards me, till just the moment when I
+fired.  If I had only wounded her, she would have sprung on you all the
+same."
+
+"All right, doctor," said Nick; "you couldn't do more than bring me off
+with a whole skin.  And it's more than I deserve, too, for I didn't obey
+orders."
+
+"Well, now I suppose we may go back to bed?" suggested Frank.  "It's not
+much past midnight, and I feel as if I wanted plenty more sleep before
+morning.  I don't fancy we shall have many more visitors to-night."
+
+"No," said the doctor, "we may sleep soundly now.  Animals don't often
+go near a fountain where they have seen lions drinking.  Indeed, the
+shots which have been fired would probably be enough to keep them away.
+Let us turn in again, by all means."
+
+His prognostications were fulfilled.  There was no further disturbance
+that night, and when the travellers awoke on the following morning, they
+were in high health and spirits.
+
+"Do you intend to take the same track which we were following up
+yesterday, Charles?" asked Warley, as they sat at breakfast, "or have
+you altered your mind about it?"
+
+"I see no reason for changing it," replied the surgeon.  "I am sure the
+river, which Vangelt told me of, cannot be above fifteen miles off at
+the outside, and when we are once there, it is all, comparatively
+speaking, plain sailing.  I don't know how far this kind of country may
+last, but I feel sure it cannot be for any great distance.
+Notwithstanding yesterday's experience, I don't advise our taking water
+with us, or anything but a few slices of meat I am persuaded that we
+shall not suffer a second time, as we did yesterday; and carrying water
+always hampers travellers terribly."
+
+All readily gave their assent to his suggestions, and before six o'clock
+the travellers were again in motion.  They journeyed on for several
+miles, the bare rocks and sand still continuing the main features of the
+landscape: but about twelve o'clock their eyes were relieved by the
+appearance of wooded slopes in the distance.  Presently they came to a
+small pool, surrounded by a grove of oomahaamas and acacias, among the
+branches of which they noticed a quantity of grey-crested parrots, which
+kept up an incessant screaming, from the moment the travellers came in
+sight to that of their departure.
+
+"Here's a good place for a halt," suggested Ernest.  "This shade is most
+refreshing, and the water seems clear and cool."
+
+"I am quite of your mind, Ernest," said Nick, flinging himself at full
+length on the grass at the edge of the pool.  "Exhausted nature can't go
+further without a respite.  Now, if any one would be so good as to shoot
+two or three of those parrots, that are actually crying out to be shot,
+they would make a famous--What are you up to now, man?" he added
+sharply, as he felt a sudden blow on his shin.  "You would do well to
+take care what you are doing."
+
+"_You_ would do well to take care," retorted Warley.  "Do you see what
+was crawling up your leg?"  He held up, as he spoke, a dead snake about
+eighteen inches long, with a curious-looking horn on either side of its
+head.  "If I hadn't hit him on the neck the moment I saw him, he'd have
+bitten your hand to a certainty.  He was making straight for it."
+
+"A snake!" cried Nick, starting up in horror.  "So there is, I declare.
+The nasty brute!  I don't know whether it is venomous or not, but I'm
+much obliged, even if it isn't.  They are not nice things up a fellow's
+leg!"
+
+"Hand him over here," said Charles Lavie.  "Oh ay, I know this fellow.
+He is called the cerastes, and is venomous, I believe, though not one of
+the worst kinds of poisonous snakes.  You are well out of it, Nick, I
+can tell you, and must look more carefully about you in this country
+before you sit down in a place like this.  Some of the reptiles are so
+nearly the colour of the ground, or the trees, that even an old stager
+may be taken in."
+
+"Are there any large pythons in these parts?" asked Warley.  "I've heard
+two quite different accounts.  One says that they are never found so far
+south as this; the other, that they are to be met with thirty or forty
+feet long, and as thick round as a stout man.  What is the truth of the
+matter?"
+
+"Well, the truth is something between the two, I believe, as is
+generally the case," said the surgeon.  "They are certainly not common
+in Southern Africa, since people who have lived here all their lives
+have never seen one.  But now and then they are to be met with.  I know
+persons who have seen serpents' skins thirty feet long in the possession
+of natives; and one case I heard of, in which a skin was exhibited fully
+ten feet longer than that."
+
+"Are they difficult to kill?" asked Frank.
+
+"Not if you bide your time," said Lavie.  "If you come upon them when
+they are hungry, they--the larger ones, that is--are more than a match
+for even the strongest men: and unless they are approached unawares, and
+wounded, so as to destroy their muscular power, a struggle with them
+would be most dangerous.  But after they have gorged their prey, they
+are killed as easily as so many sheep--more easily in fact, for they are
+quite torpid."
+
+"What are the worst snakes found in these parts?" inquired Gilbert.
+"The cobra and the puff adder, I should say," returned the surgeon.
+"The first will spring at you as if it was discharged out of some
+engine, and with such force, that if it fails to strike its mark it will
+overshoot the spot by several feet.  The natives call it the
+hair-serpent, and are in great terror of it.  If no sufficient remedy is
+applied, its bite will cause death in less than an hour."
+
+"_Is_ there any sufficient remedy?" rejoined Nick.  "I thought there was
+no cure."
+
+"It's not so bad as that, Nick.  There are remedies for most bites--the
+cobra's for instance.  There is a root which the mangoust always eats,
+when it feels itself bitten by a cobra, and which is, so far as is
+known, a complete cure.  Eau de luce and sweet milk are generally given
+in this country for a snake's bite, and the natives have beans and
+serpent stones, which, it is said, effect a cure.  But the best thing to
+do--what I should have done in your case, Nick, if you had been bitten--
+is, first to fasten a ligature as tight as possible above the wounded
+part, and then cauterise or cut away the injured flesh.  Snakes' bites
+are nasty things in these hot countries, and one can't be too careful.
+But come, it is time we move on again.  We ought to reach the river
+banks early in the afternoon."
+
+They recommenced their march accordingly, and had proceeded half a mile
+or so further, when Frank suddenly called upon them to stop.
+
+"What can that noise be?" he said.  "I have heard it two or three times
+in the course of the last few minutes.  It doesn't sound like the cry of
+a bird, or beast either.  And yet I suppose it must be."
+
+"I didn't hear anything," said Gilbert.  "Nor I," added Warley.  "But my
+hearing is not nearly as good as Frank's.  I've often noticed that."
+
+"Let us stop and listen," suggested Charles.
+
+They all stood still, intently listening.  Presently a faint sound was
+wafted to them, apparently from a great distance--from the edge of the
+sandy desert, they fancied, which was still visible beyond the wooded
+tracts.
+
+"No," said Charles, when the sound had been twice repeated, "that is not
+the cry of any animal, with which I am acquainted.  It sounds more like
+a human voice than anything else.  If it was at all likely that there
+was any other party of travellers in these parts, I should think they
+were hailing us.  But nothing can be more improbable than that."
+
+"Still it is possible," urged Warley, "and they may be in want of our
+help.  Ought we not to go and find out the truth?"
+
+"I think you are right, Ernest," said Frank.
+
+"Well, I don't know," urged Gilbert, nervously.  "I've heard all sorts
+of stories of voices being heard in the deserts, enticing people to
+their destruction, and it may be some ruse of the savages about here,
+who want to get us into their hands, to possess themselves of our guns.
+What do you say, doctor?"
+
+"Why, as for the voices, Nick, I've heard the stories you speak of,
+which have been told chiefly by persons who had lost their way and were
+nearly dead from cold and hunger.  Under such circumstances, when
+people's nerves and senses begin to fail them, they fancy all sorts of
+strange things.  No doubt, too, there are all sorts of acoustic
+deceptions in these wild regions, as there are optical delusions; but I
+don't think we four--all of us in sound health--are likely to be so
+deceived--"
+
+"But how about the savages, doctor?" interposed Nick, anxiously.
+
+"Well, if these were the backwoods of America, and we had the Red
+Indians to deal with, there would be a good deal in your suggestion.
+But neither the Hottentots nor the Bushmen are given to stratagems of
+this kind.  However, we'll move warily, and if any treachery is
+designed, we shall be pretty sure to baffle it."
+
+They turned off in the direction whence the cry had come, keeping to the
+open ground, and giving a wide berth to any clump of trees or underwood
+which might harbour an enemy.  Every now and then they paused to listen
+for the sound, which was regularly repeated, at intervals apparently of
+two or three minutes, and grew more distinct as they advanced.  It was
+now certain that the cry was human, and sounded like that of a
+full-grown man.
+
+"We are getting a good deal nearer," observed Warley, as they passed the
+last patch of trees, and entered once more the sandy wilderness.  "I
+should say we must be almost close, only I don't see any place where the
+person who is crying out in this manner can be hidden."
+
+"It comes from that heap of stones there," exclaimed Frank, "that heap
+to the left, I mean--about two hundred yards further on."
+
+"I see the stones, Frank, plain enough," said Mr Lavie, "but a man
+couldn't be hidden among them.  You call it a heap of stones, but there
+is no heap.  There is not so much as one lying upon another."
+
+"Nevertheless the cry comes from there," said Warley; "I heard it the
+last time quite plainly.  Let us go up and see."
+
+They cautiously approached the spot in question, where there were about
+thirty or forty moderate-sized stones scattered on the plain.  As they
+advanced the mysterious call was again heard.
+
+"I see who it is that's making it," shouted Wilmore.  "It's a fellow
+whose head is just above ground.  I took his head for a black stone,
+with a lot of moss growing on it.  But now I can see that it is a head,
+though the features are turned away from us."
+
+They hurried up, and found that Frank was right.  The stones were lying
+round what seemed to have been a dry well.  In this a man had been
+buried up to his neck, the chin being just above the level of the
+ground.  It did not appear that he was conscious of their approach; for
+at the interval of every two or three minutes he continued to give vent
+to the shrill monotonous cry, which had attracted their attention.
+
+"What in the world can this mean!" exclaimed Nick.  "The fellow can't
+have tumbled into the well, and the stones have fallen in after him, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Is it some penance, do you think, that he is undergoing?" suggested
+Warley.
+
+"Or a punishment for a crime he has committed?" said Wilmore.
+
+"It may be a punishment for some offence," said Mr Lavie, "though I
+never heard of the Hottentots punishing their people in that way, and
+the man is plainly a Hottentot.  As for anything else, of course it is
+quite impossible that he can have got jammed up in this way by accident;
+and the Hottentots know nothing of penances.  Such a thing has never
+been heard of among them.  But the first thing is to get the poor fellow
+out and give him something to restore him; for he is half dead with
+thirst and exposure to the sun, and does not seem conscious of what is
+passing."
+
+They fell to with a will, and had soon so far released the captive, that
+he was able to draw his breath freely and swallow a little brandy, which
+Mr Lavie poured on his tongue.  He then opened his eyes for a moment,
+gazing with the utmost bewilderment and wonder on the dress and
+appearance of the figures round him; and then closed them again with a
+low groan.
+
+"They meant this--the beggars that holed him in after this fashion,"
+observed Frank.  "The stones are fitted round him as carefully as though
+they had been building a wall.  And, look! the poor wretch's arms are
+fastened by a thong to his sides.  What brutes!  Hand us the knife,
+Nick, and I'll cut them.  How tough they are!"
+
+It needed a strong hand and a sharp blade to sever the stout thongs,
+which on subsequent examination were found to consist of rhinoceros
+hide.  But when his arms were at length free, the man made no effort to
+use them.  It was evident that they were so benumbed by the forced
+restraint in which they had so long been kept, that he had lost all
+power over them.  They were obliged to continue to remove the stones,
+until his feet were completely released, before he could be extricated
+from the hole; and when this was effected, it was only by the joint
+strength of the four Englishmen, the Hottentot himself being unable to
+render any assistance.
+
+He was now carried to the shade of the nearest trees; Nick ran back to
+their recent resting-place, and returned with the iron pot full of
+water, while Warley and Wilmore, under the surgeon's direction, chafed
+his limbs.  By the time of Gilbert's return their efforts had been
+successful.  The sufferer once more opened his eyes, and making signs
+that the water should be handed to him, drank a long and refreshing
+draught.  "He'll do now," observed Nick, as he witnessed this feat.
+"There's no more fear for his health after that.  But I should like to
+know who he is, and how he came there.  I say, blacky, what may your
+name happen to be, and how did you come to be boxed up after that
+fashion, like a chimney-sweep stuck in a narrow flue?"
+
+To the astonishment of the whole party, Nick's question was answered.
+
+"Omatoko my name.  Tank Englishman much for pull him out.  Omatoko soon
+die, if they not come.  Bushmen bury Omatoko one, two day ago.  Good
+men, give Omatoko food, or he die now."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+A GOOD ACTION REWARDED--A RAID ON THE PARROTS--OMATOKO'S STORY--PROPOSED
+CHANGE OF ROUTE--BIVOUAC FOR THE NIGHT.
+
+Nick started back at the unexpected reply.  "Who'd have thought that?"
+he exclaimed.  "I should just as soon have expected to have heard Lion
+talk English."
+
+"Well, it wasn't very good English," remarked Warley, "but it was as
+much to the purpose as if he had been Lindley Murray himself.  I suppose
+the first thing is to comply with his request.  I have got a biscuit in
+my pocket, which I brought away from the boat I dare say he can eat
+that."
+
+"Not a doubt of it," said Nick; "and I guess he'll soon dispose of this
+slice of steinbok too.  The worst of it is, that I had meant it for my
+own supper.  But one can't let the poor wretch starve."
+
+"We'll all contribute something," said the doctor, "and make him out a
+sufficient supper, I have no doubt.  He mustn't eat very much at a time.
+But the first thing is to carry him to some sheltered place, where we
+can make him up a comfortable bed.  He must have a long rest before he
+will be good for anything."
+
+"Carry him, hey!" cried Nick doubtfully, as he contemplated the
+prostrate figure of the Hottentot; who, for one of his race, was
+unusually tall and large of frame.  "How are we to do that, I wonder?
+He weighs twelve stone, I'll go bail for it, if he weighs an ounce, and
+we don't happen to have a horse and cart convenient."
+
+"We can manage it easily enough," was the answer; "our guns and these
+thongs will make a very tolerable stretcher.  Draw the charges first,
+though.  It wouldn't be safe to carry the guns loaded."
+
+Ernest complied, and then the doctor set about the construction of his
+litter.  He first fastened a rifle and a gun together, reversing the
+direction of the barrels, so as to form a kind of staff out of them,
+about six feet long, with the stocks at the two ends.  The other rifle
+and gun were then secured after the same manner, and thus the poles of
+the stretcher were formed.  They were then tied together, about two feet
+apart from one another, by half a dozen thongs.  The machine was now
+placed on the ground, and the Hottentot laid on the thongs.  Then the
+stocks at one end were raised, and laid on the doctor's shoulders, who
+bent on one knee and stooped as near to the ground as he could.  The
+other two ends were next placed in like fashion on the shoulders of
+Ernest who had put himself into the like attitude.  Frank and Nick now
+took their stations in the middle of the litter, each placing one
+shoulder under the pole.  Then Lavie gave the word and they all rose
+together.
+
+"Capitally managed!" exclaimed the doctor approvingly.  "Now step all
+together, and we'll have him under the shelter of the trees in less than
+a quarter of an hour."
+
+They moved off, walking quickly and steadily, and in less than the time
+named by Lavie, approached the friendly cover of the thicket.  As they
+came near, a steinbok which had been feeding apparently under a tree,
+bounded out of the covert, passing within twenty yards of them.
+
+"Alas! alas!" exclaimed Nick, "there goes our supper that should have
+been!  That is the worst of doing a good action!  One is sure to be
+punished for it!"
+
+"Well, Nick, I don't know about that," said Warley.  "If we hadn't gone
+to look after the Hottentot, I don't think we should have seen anything
+of the steinbok.  He wouldn't have come anywhere near us, I expect."
+
+"No, you may be sure of that," observed the doctor, as they lowered
+their burden to the ground, and laid him on some soft grass under the
+shade of a large mimosa.  "And what is more, I doubt whether our good
+action will not be rewarded in this instance.  Look here, the steinbok
+was feeding on this melon, when we startled him.  See the marks of his
+teeth, and here are the stalks of one or two others which he has eaten.
+I noticed these melons as I went by, but I was afraid to meddle with
+them, as I had never seen any exactly like them, and some melons in this
+country are more or less poisonous.  But the steinbok wouldn't have
+eaten them if they hadn't been wholesome food, and so we may venture on
+them too.  I have no doubt we shall find them very refreshing."
+
+Frank and Nick accordingly began pulling them up, while the surgeon
+applied himself to the restoration of his patient, who was still lying
+in a half-conscious state.  But the cool air and soft bed, together with
+the restoratives, which from time to time were applied, presently
+brought him round, and he was able to eat as much food as was judged
+good for him.  After partaking of this and another draught of cold
+water, he fell into a sound sleep, which seemed likely to last for
+several hours.
+
+"It is still early in the afternoon," remarked the doctor, as they sat
+down to their dinner of steinbok and melons, the latter of which proved
+most delicious; "it is still quite early, and I don't suppose we can
+have gone more than a dozen miles since breakfast.  Nevertheless, I
+think we must remain here.  This poor fellow isn't well enough to be
+left yet, though he may be to-morrow morning."
+
+"No, we can't leave the poor wretch," said Warley, "particularly after
+what he told us about the Bushmen.  They may be lurking about somewhere
+in the neighbourhood, and may pounce upon him again, and he wouldn't be
+able to escape them in his present weak state."
+
+"Eh, what!" exclaimed Gilbert, jumping up in great alarm at this
+suggestion.  "The Bushmen lurking about!  The bloodthirsty savages!
+They'll be seizing us and burying us up to the chin perhaps, and then
+making a cockshy of our heads!  Are the guns loaded again, Frank?"
+
+"Long ago, Nick," was the answer.  "Ernest loaded them, while you and I
+were gathering melons.  I saw him doing it, and I don't think the
+Bushmen are very likely to trouble us.  They have a most wholesome
+terror of European weapons, and more particularly of firearms, if all
+that I have heard is true.  I think we had better try if we can't kill
+one or two of these grey parrots, as you yourself, if I don't mistake,
+were suggesting, just before the snake showed itself."
+
+"I have no objection, Frank," returned Nick, somewhat reassured.  "To be
+sure these Bushmen can't very well be as bad as the snakes; and if one
+makes up one's mind not to trouble one's self about the one, one need
+not trouble one's self about the other."
+
+"All right, Nick," said Wilmore.  "Now then, about these parrots.
+They're very shy chaps, and will keep out of shot, if they can; and we
+mustn't throw away powder by firing, unless with a pretty safe prospect
+of bringing one down.  I think I'll creep round, and hide behind that
+big trunk yonder.  Then you shy a stone up into the tree in which they
+are sitting, and they'll most probably fly out into the open, and give
+me a good shot."
+
+Wilmore and Gilbert conducted their joint manoeuvres with so much skill,
+that before supper-time, half a dozen good-sized parrots had been
+bagged, and their flesh when boiled was pronounced by all to be
+excellent.  After supper the doctor informed the party that Omatoko, as
+he called himself, had now quite recovered his senses, and had held a
+long conversation with him; the particulars of which he was ready to
+communicate, if they wished to hear it.  "Hear it? to be sure we do,"
+said Nick.  "I've been longing to learn all about it, and if I had had
+any idea that he would have been able to talk, I shouldn't have gone out
+parrot shooting."
+
+"You wouldn't have understood what he said," observed Lavie.  "He told
+his story in Dutch.  His knowledge of English was very small when he
+came to try it.  He says he belonged to a tribe that formerly lived a
+good way to the south of this--not far from the mouth of the Gariep, I
+fancy, from his description.  There were a good many farms belonging to
+Dutch owners in the neighbourhood; but Omatoko's was a powerful tribe,
+and they seem for a good many years to have lived unmolested by their
+European neighbours.  But about fourteen or fifteen years ago, some
+Englishmen--traders probably sent by some commercial house--landed near
+their village, and offered them more liberal terms for their skins and
+ivory than the Dutch had allowed.  Finding the trade profitable, the
+English returned in the following year, and by-and-by ran up a few huts,
+where they carried on what promised to be a very lucrative business.  It
+was from them that Omatoko picked up the few words of English which he
+knows, and he appears to have contracted a great liking for them."
+
+"Of course he did," said Frank, "old England against the world!"
+
+"With all my heart, Frank," rejoined the doctor, "only the English are
+not always remarkable for making themselves popular.  Well, the trade
+went on increasing, until it roused the jealousy of the Dutch.  They
+didn't fancy not being able to buy hides and tusks at the old prices,
+and besides, were jealous of the English attempting to settle in the
+country."
+
+"Ay, to be sure," said Warley, "the time you speak of must have been a
+year or two before the conquest of the colony by our troops."
+
+"Just so, Ernest, and for some years previously to that there had been a
+feeling of uneasiness in the colony, that the English were meditating
+some attempt upon them.  That is one of the things that induces me to
+believe the Hottentot's story.  Well, the Dutch in the fourth year after
+the appearance of the strangers, got together what they call a commando
+in these parts--"
+
+"I know what that is," interposed Wilmore.  "I heard my uncle talking
+about it with some of the passengers.  They get all the Dutchmen in the
+neighbourhood together, as well as some troops from the government, and
+make a raid on some unlucky Hottentot village--kill all the men, make
+slaves of the women and children, seize the cattle and goods of the
+natives, and burn the houses."
+
+"That's what you call a clean sweep," observed Nick.
+
+"Yes, no doubt.  But it's shockingly cruel and wicked," exclaimed
+Warley.  "I should think you must be overstating the matter, Frank."
+
+"I am afraid he is not," said Lavie.  "That is very much what they were
+wont to do at commandos, as I had good grounds for knowing while I was
+living at Cape Town.  They had a great deal of provocation, no doubt.
+The boors' cattle was continually being stolen, and could very seldom be
+recovered.  And it was next to impossible to prove the theft against any
+tribe in particular--"
+
+"But that would not justify them in burning and shooting right and left,
+without any inquiry," rejoined Warley.  "I could not have believed that
+any Christian people--"
+
+"Well, Ernest, I am inclined to go a long way with you on this subject,
+though I differ somewhat," said the doctor, "but we have no time to
+discuss it now.  Well, the Dutch commando attacked Omatoko's village by
+night and burnt it, as Frank says, to the ground.  Probably all the
+other results of which he spoke would have ensued, if the English had
+not heard the firing, and come up to the rescue."
+
+"I hope they peppered the Dutchmen properly," cried Nick.
+
+"Well, they seem to have made a good fight of it; but the Dutchmen were
+ten to one, and the Hottentots very little good.  The upshot was that a
+large part of the tribe escaped, and the rest, together with the
+survivors of the English, surrendered themselves at discretion.  Omatoko
+was one of those made prisoners, and he was for eight years in the
+service of a boor.  He was pretty well treated; for the colony was all
+that time in the hands of the English, and they wouldn't allow any
+cruelties to be exercised against the slaves.  But two years ago the
+Cape was given back to the Dutch, and they began the old system again as
+soon as they were in possession.  Omatoko and one or two others made
+their escape some twelve months ago; and he went back to his tribe, who
+are living, he says, at no great distance from this.  The Dutch, he
+declares, have been trying to seize or kill him ever since--"
+
+"Whew!" exclaimed Nick.  "What, did those Dutch beggars bury him in the
+well after that fashion, then?  Well, I always thought the Dutch to be
+brutes, but I never could have believed--"
+
+"Stop that, Nick," interposed Frank.  "Have you forgotten that the
+Hottentot himself told us that it was the Bushmen who buried him?"
+
+"Oh, ay, to be sure, I had forgotten that," said Gilbert.  "Go on,
+doctor.  Did the Dutch send a commando after him?"
+
+"Omatoko says that the Dutch had given up their system of commandos for
+several years, and could not easily organise them again, but they
+employed the Bushmen to seize any of the fugitives, and paid a large
+price for every one brought in."
+
+"But if that is true, what made the Bushmen bury Omatoko in that way,
+instead of carrying him to the Dutch to claim the reward?" asked Warley.
+"I must say, Charles, that sounds very suspicious."
+
+"So it did to me, Ernest," said Charles; "but the Hottentot answered me,
+readily enough, that the Dutch would have paid the same sum for a
+runaway's head, as they would if he had been brought to them alive.  He
+declared that the Bushmen hated him, for having repeatedly escaped them,
+and for having several times requited their outrages in kind.  He said
+they meant to have left him in the well, to die of cold and hunger;
+after which they would have cut off his head and carried it to the
+nearest Dutch village."
+
+"Well, that might be true, I suppose," said Wilmore.
+
+"Yes, I think so.  The story hung well together.  I could detect no flaw
+in it."
+
+"Did you ask him whether he would act as our guide to Cape Town?"
+inquired Ernest.
+
+"Yes, and he said he would; but we could not go the way I had proposed,
+along the course of the Great Fish or Koanquip rivers.  He knew them
+both perfectly, so he affirmed; but neither route would be safe.  We
+must go still further eastward--into the Kalahari in fact--he told me."
+
+"What is the Kalahari?" asked Frank.
+
+"A vast sea of sand," said Lavie, "extending for more than four hundred
+miles, from the borders of Namaqua-land to the country of the Bechuanas.
+There is not, so far as I know, a single river, lake, or even fountain,
+to be found in the whole region."
+
+"What on earth are we to go there for?" cried Gilbert.  "We should soon
+die of hunger or thirst, or heat!"
+
+"Well no, not that," said the surgeon.  "A great part of the sand is
+covered with dense scrub, which affords something like shade, and though
+there is neither river nor pool, yet if you dig down a few feet you will
+generally find a supply of water.  Life may be sustained there; indeed,
+tribes of Bushmen and Bechuanas are to be found in most parts of it.
+But I should think it was the most miserable dwelling-place to be found
+on the face of the earth."
+
+"Well, then, why are we to go there?" repeated Nick, irritably.
+
+"Omatoko says it will not be safe, for the present at all events, to
+journey southward.  It seems that the Dutch are expecting a new attempt
+of our countrymen to seize the colony, and their fear and anger are so
+greatly roused, that they would certainly imprison, and probably kill,
+any Englishman who at the present juncture fell into their hands.  I
+really think he is likely to be right in what he says.  When I left
+England two months ago, there was a good deal of talk about taking
+possession of the Cape Colony again."
+
+"But granting that we must not venture south, why need we bury ourselves
+in a sandy desert?" persisted Gilbert.  "Omatoko proposes to take us
+some distance into Kalahari, because his tribe is at present living
+there.  When they were driven by the Dutch from their own homes, they
+retired some few miles into the desert and built a new village, where
+they have been living ever since.  He promises us a friendly welcome
+from his tribe, and advises us to remain with them until we can learn
+what is the precise state of things between the English and Dutch.  If
+no attack is made by our government, the hostile feeling will gradually
+subside, and we may safely pursue our way as at first proposed.  If an
+attack _is_ made, and the colony again taken possession of by the
+British arms, we can travel to Cape Town, though it would be wise to
+follow a different route.  That is the substance of what Omatoko
+advises."
+
+"And you are inclined to trust him, Charles?" said Warley,
+interrogatively.
+
+"I am in two minds about it," replied Charles.  "Part of what he says I
+know to be true, and everything is consistent with truth.  Still his
+anxiety to get back to his own tribe is suspicious.  He has let fall,
+unconsciously, some hints of his burning desire to be avenged forthwith
+on the enemies who had so nearly put him to a cruel death; and if he
+were to conduct us to Cape Town, he would have to put off the
+gratification of his revenge for many months at the least; and perhaps
+before his return, the tribe he longs to punish will have moved hundreds
+of miles away."
+
+"And what do you advise that we should do?"
+
+"I am inclined to follow his suggestions.  If his tale is true, we
+should be running into the face of the most imminent peril by following
+the route I had marked out.  And even if it is false, we shall probably
+not be delayed very long at the Hottentot village.  His measures will be
+taken, I doubt not, promptly enough, and then he will be at liberty to
+attend to our affairs."
+
+"You think, in fact, that he really means friendly by us, though he may
+care more for his revenge than our convenience."
+
+"Just so, Ernest.  His gratitude is, I believe, quite sincere."
+
+"Then I agree with you that we had better do as you advise.  What do you
+two say?"
+
+"I am of your opinion," said Wilmore.
+
+"And I don't see what else is to be done," added Gilbert.
+
+"That's agreed, then," said Lavie.  "And now, there is another thing.
+He says it won't be safe for us to sleep under these trees, even though
+we light a fire, and keep it up all night.  It seems that the
+neighbourhood abounds with beast of prey.  Indeed, if Omatoko is to be
+believed there would be a considerable risk of our being devoured by a
+lion or tiger--"
+
+"Tiger!" repeated Warley.  "There are no tigers in this country surely."
+
+"Not the animal strictly called the tiger," returned the surgeon; "that
+is not found in South Africa at all, or indeed anywhere, I believe,
+except in Bengal.  The beast they name the tiger here, is the leopard;
+but he is quite fierce and savage enough.  I should observe that the
+leopard is not the only animal miscalled in this country.  They talk of
+the wild horse, the camel, and the wolf, as abounding here.  But none of
+these are to be found.  What they mean are properly the zebra, the
+giraffe, and the hyena.  But to go on, Omatoko says we must either keep
+watch, all of us, with our guns all night--"
+
+"I say, bother that," broke in Nick; "a fellow can't do without sleep."
+
+"Or else," resumed Charles; "we must climb into trees and sleep there."
+
+"Well, we can do that," said Frank; "that is, we four can.  But how
+about this Hottentot?  He is in no case to climb a tree, I judge, much
+less to stick in one all night."
+
+"And how about Lion?" added Gilbert.  "He is a worse climber still, I
+expect."
+
+"Omatoko advised us to cut down a lot of young pines that are growing in
+a thicket close by, and lay them across two of the lower branches of the
+largest tree we can find.  There are several acacias of immense size
+about here.  A sort of floor will thus be formed, where we can all sleep
+safely.  The branches would probably be not more than six feet from the
+ground, so that both the Hottentot and Lion might easily be handed up."
+
+"But these leopards can climb, can't they?" suggested Frank.  "We should
+be safe from lions or rhinoceroses no doubt, but not from leopards, or
+bears either, if there are any about here."
+
+"I don't think any bears are to be found hereabouts.  No doubt panthers
+and leopards can climb trees, but remember, they could only get at us by
+walking along the bough on the end of which our platform rests, or by
+dropping down from a higher limb.  Lion would be sure to rouse us before
+they could accomplish either feat, and they would be easy victims to our
+rifles."
+
+"That's true," said Wilmore.  "Well, then, do you three fall to work on
+the job, while I roast some parrots for to-morrow's breakfast."
+
+They began the task accordingly.  The doctor took his axe; and in half
+an hour had cut down a great number of stout firs about twenty feet
+long, and thicker round than his arm.  These were brought up by Warley
+and laid across two of the lower branches of one of the giants of the
+forest, forming a tolerably flat stage some nine feet square.  No
+fastening was required for the firs, their own weight and the shape of
+the branches, which bent slightly upwards at the ends, rendering them
+quite secure.  Next, armfuls of dry grass and moss were handed up to
+form beds for the party; and then came the more difficult task of
+hoisting Omatoko to his place.  This engaged the united strength of the
+doctor, Warley, and Wilmore below, while Nick, standing on the platform,
+received him from their hands.  But the strength of the Hottentot was in
+some measure restored, and he was able to render some help himself,
+which greatly facilitated the job.  As soon as Omatoko had been
+consigned to his bed, Lion was in like manner passed up; but he was by
+no means so conformable as his predecessor had been, and if anybody but
+Frank had had charge of his head and shoulders, they might have found
+their undertaking an unpleasant one.
+
+However, in process of time he was got up, and secured by a thong to one
+of the poles in the centre of the platform.  The guns came next, and
+lastly their owners.  It was quite dark before their arrangements were
+completed, and before ten minutes had elapsed, the whole of the party
+were fast asleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+DANGEROUS NEIGHBOURS--FREE AND EASY VISITORS--PROPOSED DEPARTURE--
+JOURNEY RESUMED--AN AFRICAN STORM--A NECK AND NECK STRUGGLE.
+
+The sun was high in the heavens before any of the party were roused from
+their slumbers.  Then the doctor was the first to wake up, and his
+thoughts were at once turned to his patient.  He was pleased to find him
+in a most satisfactory condition.  His skin was cool, and his pulse,
+though still low, was steadily recovering its tone.  As for Frank and
+Ernest--they had no sooner opened their eyes, than they hurried off to
+the pool, which lay two or three hundred yards off, to enjoy a
+refreshing bath.  They were followed shortly afterwards by Lavie and
+Omatoko, the latter having contrived to descend from his bedchamber by
+the help of the doctor's arm, and to walk, though very slowly, as far as
+the waterside.
+
+Having completed their ablutions, the lads set about preparing the
+breakfast; which, it was agreed, was to be eaten under the shade of the
+acacias.
+
+"I think Omatoko must be mistaken about the wild animals," observed
+Frank.  "I slept as sound as a top, and so did Lion; and if there had
+been any of his namesakes about, or tigers either, he would have been
+pretty sure to give us notice."
+
+"You forget how tired we were, Frank; Lion as well as ourselves," said
+the doctor.  "Unless they made a very great uproar we should probably
+not hear them."
+
+"What does Omatoko say?" suggested Warley.  "Does he think there were
+wild beasts about?"
+
+The Hottentot nodded.  "One, two lion," he said, pointing to some
+footprints in the short grass round the pool.  "One, two lion; many
+tigers; one rhinoceros."
+
+"Is that the spoor of a lion?" asked Warley with much interest, as he
+stooped down and examined the footprints.  "How can you tell it from
+that of a large tiger?"
+
+"You may always know the spoor of a lion by the marks of the toe-nails,"
+said Lavie; "they turn in, whereas those of other feline animals
+project.  Yes, that is a lion's spoor, sure enough, and those broad deep
+prints are as plainly those of a rhinoceros, and a pretty large one too.
+And there are plenty of others besides, which I am not sure of.
+Omatoko was certainly right.  It was quite as well that we did not
+bivouac by this pool."
+
+Breakfast was now announced, and the party gathered round the eatables,
+when it was for the first time noticed that Nick was not present.
+
+"I suppose he is still asleep," said the surgeon.  "I called to him to
+come and help me to get Omatoko down, but I got nothing but an
+intelligible growl at first, and then a sleepy assurance that he would
+be sure to be in time for breakfast."
+
+"No, he is not the fellow to miss that," remarked Frank.  "He must be
+very sleepy indeed, before he'll go without his victuals.  Depend upon
+it he will be here in a minute or two."
+
+Half an hour however passed away, and the meal was quite completed, and
+still no Nick made his appearance.
+
+"Go, and look after him, Frank," said the doctor, "while I consult with
+Omatoko as to what ought to be done next.  We can't afford to lose time,
+if it should be thought better for us to move."
+
+Wilmore took up his gun accordingly, and walked off towards the tree
+where they had slept.  The dense foliage almost entirely concealed the
+staging from sight: but as he drew nearer he was sensible of loud
+chattering and gibbering sounds, intermixed occasionally with shrill
+screams, which seemed to come from a great number of throats.  Wondering
+what this could mean, he made his approach as noiselessly as possible,
+and climbing up to the top of one of the roots, which projected a foot
+or two upwards, he peered cautiously over the edge of the platform.  A
+most extraordinary sight greeted him, and it was with the greatest
+difficulty that he restrained himself from bursting into a loud laugh.
+
+Nick was seated in the middle of the stage, bareheaded and without
+shoes, and was gazing upward with a look of mingled alarm and annoyance,
+which seemed to the spectator of the scene irresistibly ludicrous.  On
+the boughs immediately over his head, as far up as Frank could descry, a
+great number of baboons were to be seen, leaping from one resting-place
+to another, with hideous grimaces, and keeping up incessant and most
+discordant screams.  The grotesqueness of their appearance was much
+increased by their having taken possession of such of Nick's property as
+they had been able to lay their paws on.  One wore the blue cloth cap,
+with the leather peak and white edging, which was a souvenir of Dr
+Staines's establishment.  Two more had possessed themselves, each of one
+of his shoes, which he had laid aside when he went to sleep; and were
+turning them over with an air of grave curiosity, as if to discover what
+their use might be.  Another party had seized the knapsack, which had
+been pulled from under Nick's head before he was fully awake.  The
+contents had been divided between several old baboons, who had turned
+the various articles to all sort of strange uses.  One was scratching
+his ear with Gilbert's pipe; another had thrust its head into a
+stocking, and appeared to have some difficulty in getting it out again;
+a third was enveloped from head to foot in a cotton shirt, his head
+showing itself just above the collar; while a fourth was examining the
+contents of the flask, which it had contrived partially to open, and was
+making hideous faces over the taste of the gunpowder, of which it had
+swallowed a good spoonful.  Nick had fortunately awoke in time to
+prevent the baboons from seizing his knife or gun.  He now held the
+latter with a strong grip in both hands, and seemed disposed to
+discharge its contents at one of his assailants, if he could only make
+up his mind which to single out for attack.
+
+"Don't fire, Nick," exclaimed Wilmore, as he noticed Gilbert's
+demeanour.  "You'd enrage them greatly, if you were to wound or kill any
+of them.  They have been known to tear a fellow to pieces, who shot one
+of their number.  They're terribly fierce and strong, if they are
+provoked."
+
+"What am I to do, then?" returned Gilbert.  "They've not only carried
+off my knapsack and pipe, but my hat and shoes too; and I can't venture
+to walk a step in these parts without them."
+
+"The best way will be to scare them away," suggested Wilmore, "if we
+could think of any way of doing it."
+
+"I'll tell you," cried Nick, catching a sudden inspiration.  "Do you
+climb up into the tree on the other side.  The leaves are so thick that
+these brutes won't see you, and the branches are easy enough to climb.
+When you're well up over their heads, let fly with your gun.  I'll do
+the same the moment afterwards, and between the two reports they'll be
+so scared, I expect, that they'll cut for it straightway."
+
+"Very well," said Frank, laughing, "I've no objection.  We can but try,
+any way."  He carefully uncocked his gun, and began mounting the
+branches as quietly as possible, while Nick distracted the attention of
+the monkeys, by shaking his fist at them, and pelting them with
+fragments of bark.  Presently there came the double explosion, which
+fully answered his expectations.  Uttering a Babel of discordant
+screams, they dropped their recently acquired treasures, and made off at
+the top of their speed, bounding from tree to tree till they were lost
+in the distance.  Nick set himself to collect the various articles thus
+restored, and had nearly repossessed himself of all of them, when Frank
+descended from his elevation and joined him on the platform.
+
+"You get into scrapes, Nick, more than most," he said, "but you've a
+wonderful knack of getting out of them again, that's certain.  Well,
+come along, if you've got everything.  The doctor is anxious to start,
+if this Hottentot chap will let us, and you've still your breakfast to
+get."
+
+"The Hottentot let us start this morning!" repeated Gilbert.  "Not if
+he's to go with us himself, to be sure!  To look at him last night, he
+wouldn't be fit to walk again this side of Christmas.  Perhaps he
+expects us to carry him, as we did yesterday--do you really think that,
+Frank?" continued Gilbert, stopping short, and eyeing his companion with
+an expression of much dismay.
+
+"No, I don't," returned Wilmore, again bursting into a laugh; "and if he
+did expect it, he'd find his expectations deceive him considerably.
+That's what _I_ expect, at all events."
+
+"Well, here we are," said Nick, a minute or two afterwards, as they
+reached the post.  "Well, doctor, I'm sorry to be late, but Frank will
+tell you that I have been in the hands of the swell mob, and have only
+just contrived to escape them."
+
+The doctor looked puzzled, but he had no time for explanations.  "Eat
+your breakfast, Gilbert," he said, "while we settle what is to be done
+to-day.  I suppose we are all agreed that it won't do for us to stop
+here longer than we can help.  Now Omatoko is not able to travel very
+far, but he could walk a few miles if he went very slowly and had a rest
+every now and then.  He thinks so himself, and wishes to start at once."
+
+"We could give him an arm by turns, if that was all; but the question
+is, Charles, could we reach any good halting-place?" suggested Warley.
+
+"That's just it, Ernest," returned Charles.  "Omatoko says that about
+four or five miles from this there is a place where we could stay two or
+three days, if necessary, and find plenty of food and water.  It is a
+ruined kraal--destroyed by the Dutch, he says, many years ago, but some
+of the cottages are still in sufficient repair to shelter us."
+
+"Why shouldn't we stay here?" asked Nick, with his mouth full of parrot.
+"This is a jolly place enough--fresh water, lots of melons and parrots,
+and they're both of them capital eating.  And a comfortable
+sleeping-place.  If we must make a halt anywhere, why not here?  It's a
+capital place, I think, except for the baboons," he muttered in a lower
+tone, as the recollection of his recent adventure suddenly occurred to
+him.
+
+"Why shouldn't we stay here?" repeated Lavie.  "Well, I'll tell you,
+Gilbert.  It isn't so much the wild beasts--though a place which every
+night is full of lions, rhinoceroses, and leopards doesn't exactly suit
+anybody but a professed hunter--but there is the fear of the Bushmen
+returning to cut off Omatoko's head, whom they will expect to find dead.
+And if they find him alive, it is most probable that they will do both
+him and us some deadly mischief.  And they may be looked for to-day, or
+to-morrow, certainly.  Besides--"
+
+"There's no need to say any more, I am sure," broke in Gilbert.  "I
+didn't think of the Bushmen.  Let us be off at once, I say.  I'd rather
+carry the Hottentot on my shoulders than stay here to be murdered,
+probably, by those savages!"
+
+"Well, I own I think the return of the Bushmen quite enough by itself,"
+said the surgeon; "but I ought to add that Omatoko thinks the weather is
+going to change, and there is likely before long to be a violent storm.
+None of you have had much experience of what an African storm is like.
+But I have had quite as much as I desire, and do not wish to encounter
+it, without a roof of some kind over my head!  Well, then, if we are all
+ready, let us set out at once."
+
+The grove and pool were soon left behind.  Omatoko stepped out
+valiantly, sometimes leaning on Lavie's or Warley's shoulder, and
+sitting down to rest, whenever a thicket of trees afforded a sufficient
+close screen to hide the party from sight.  They noticed that before
+leaving any of these coverts, he anxiously scrutinised the horizon
+towards the north, and once or twice requested the boys to climb the
+highest tree they could find, and report whether anything was visible in
+the distance.
+
+His strength and confidence alike seemed to improve as the day advanced.
+About twelve o'clock they made what was to be their long halt, in a
+patch of scrub which sprung apparently out of the barren sand, though
+there was neither spring nor pond anywhere to be seen, nor even any
+appearance of moisture.  They had progressed about four miles in
+something less than five hours, and were now, Omatoko told them, hardly
+a mile from their destination.  He pointed it out indeed in the
+distance--a rocky eminence, with a patch of trees and grass lying close
+to it.  But the party had not been seated for ten minutes, and were
+still engaged in devouring the melons they had brought with them, when
+their guide again rose and advised their immediately resuming their
+journey.
+
+"What, go on at once?" exclaimed Gilbert.  "Why, what is that for?  I am
+just beginning to get cool--that is, as cool as ever I expect to be
+again.  If we have only a mile to go, we had surely better walk it in
+the cool of the evening than under this broiling sun."
+
+"Must not wait," said Omatoko.  "Storm come soon--not able go at all."
+
+"The storm!  Do you see any signs of one, doctor?  I don't."
+
+"Yes, I see signs; but I own I should not have thought it would break
+out for some hours.  But the changes of the atmosphere are wonderfully
+rapid in this country, and I have no doubt the Hottentot is right.  Will
+it be on us in another hour, Omatoko?"
+
+"Perhaps half an hour, perhaps three-quarters," was the answer.
+
+"Half an hour!  We must be off this minute, and move as fast as we can.
+Here, Frank, Ernest--hoist Omatoko on to my shoulders; I can carry him
+for a quarter of a mile, any way, and that will be ten minutes saved."
+
+"And I'll take him as far as I can, when you've done with him," added
+Warley, "and so, I doubt not, will the others.  Lift him up.  There,
+that's right.  Now step out as fast as we can."
+
+By the time that the doctor's "quarter of a mile," as it was called--
+though it was in reality nearly twice that distance--was completed, the
+signs of the approaching hurricane began to gather so fast, that even
+the most unobservant must have perceived them.  The clouds came rapidly
+up, and gradually hid the rich blue of the sky.  The light breeze which
+had stirred the foliage of the few trees which rose above the level of
+the scrub, gradually died away, and a dead, ominous calm succeeded.
+Warley, to whose back the sick man had now been transferred, hurried on
+with all the speed he could command, and rapid way was made.  Every
+minute they expected the rain to burst forth.  The black clouds which
+hid the horizon, every other minute seemed to be split open, and forked
+flashes of fire issued from them.  Presently there came a furious rush
+of wind, almost icy cold--the immediate precursor of the outburst.
+
+"We close by now," exclaimed Omatoko, as he was transferred from
+Ernest's shoulders to those of Frank.  "Not hundred yards off.  Turn
+round tall rock by pool there.  Kraal little further on."
+
+They all ran as fast as their exhausted limbs would allow.  The corner
+was attained, and there, sure enough, some forty or fifty yards further,
+were the ruins of a number of mud cottages thatched with reed.  They
+were, for the most part, mere ruins.  The walls had been broken down,
+the thatch scattered to the four winds.  Some one or two, which had
+stood in the background, immediately under the shelter of a limestone
+precipice, had retained their walls, and some portions of the thatch
+unhurt.  But one hut only, which stood in a corner under a sloping
+shelf, presented the spectacle of a roof still firm and whole.  Frank
+hurried along the narrow defile leading to this cottage, putting out all
+strength to reach it.  He was only a few yards from it, when the tempest
+at last broke forth in all its fury.  The wind swept down with a force,
+which on the open plain no man or horse would have been able to stand
+against.  The hail, or rather the large lumps of ice into which the rain
+was frozen, rattled against the rocks like cannon balls against the
+walls of a besieged fortress, and the sky grew so dark, that it was with
+difficulty that the travellers could discern each other's features.  But
+they had reached the friendly shelter of the cottage, and that was
+everything.  For two hours the fury of the elements beggared all
+description.  The rain, which after a quarter of an hour or so had
+succeeded the hail, seemed to descend in one great sheet of water,
+converting the path along which they had travelled not half an hour
+before, into a foaming torrent, bearing trees and stones before it.  One
+flash of lightning succeeded another so rapidly that the light inside
+the cottage was almost continuous.  Lavie looked several times anxiously
+at the thatch overhead, which could not have resisted the deluge
+incessantly poured upon it, if it had not been for the shelving rocks
+which nearly formed a second roof above it.  As it was, not a drop
+penetrated, and when the raging of the wind and the deluge of rain at
+last subsided, not one of the party had sustained any injury.
+
+The Hottentot had been laid on a heap of reeds which blocked up one
+corner of the hut, having been driven in there apparently at one time or
+another by the wind.  He had been at first somewhat exhausted by the
+speed at which he had been carried for the last half mile or so, but he
+seemed quite restored before the storm had ceased.  He now directed the
+boys to go out and gather some wild medlars, which he had noticed
+growing on a tree at no great distance from the rocky defile where they
+had turned aside from the main path, declaring them to be excellent
+eating.  He also requested them to bring him a straight branch, about
+three feet long, from a particular tree which he described, and a dozen
+stout reeds from the edge of the pool.  Out of these he intended, he
+said, to make a bow and arrows, by means of which he would soon provide
+the party with all the food they would require.
+
+"Three feet long?" repeated Gilbert.  "You mean six, I suppose."
+
+"No, he doesn't," said the doctor, who had overheard the request.  "The
+bows of all these tribes are not more than three feet in length.  I have
+seen several of them.  It is wonderful to see with what force and
+accuracy they discharge their arrows, considering the material of which
+they are made.  I had better go with you, I think.  I know exactly the
+tree and the size of the bough required."
+
+Lavie, Wilmore, and Gilbert accordingly set out, leaving Warley to
+attend to Omatoko, and make the hut as comfortable as he could for a two
+days' halt there.  Lion also remained behind.  As soon as his companions
+were gone Ernest set about his task.
+
+"There are no chairs or tables to be had in these parts," he thought.
+"We must sit on the ground when we do sit, and take our meals off the
+ground, when we take them.  All that can be done is to strew the floor
+with rushes and grass, which will do also for beds at night I suppose
+everything outside is soaking wet, and won't be dry enough for our
+purpose until it has had a good baking sun upon it for several hours.
+But the stuff we found in here was quite dry, and perhaps there may be
+some like it in the other huts.  If not, I shall have to cut some from
+the edge of the pool, I suppose, and lay it out to dry."
+
+He took Lavie's hatchet, and went into the nearest hut, the roof of
+which had been broken in in one or two places, but was still tolerably
+sound.  He saw, as he stepped through the doorway, that he had not been
+mistaken about the reeds.  A large heap had been lodged in one corner by
+the wind, and seemed to be quite dry.  He stepped forward, and laying
+down his hatchet, gathered up a large armful.  In so doing, he trod upon
+what appeared to be the end of a log: but his foot had no sooner touched
+it, than it was drawn away from under him, and a sharp hiss warned him
+that he had disturbed some enemy.  At the same instant he felt a strong
+pressure round his legs and waist, and perceived that he was enveloped
+in the coils of a large serpent, which was rapidly winding itself round
+his chest.  A moment afterwards, the flat diamond-shaped head came in
+sight, the eyes glaring fiercely at him, and the slaver dropping from
+the open jaws.  Ernest's arms were happily free, and he availed himself
+of the circumstance with the cool promptitude of his character.  He
+glanced for a moment at the hatchet lying on the ground a few feet off;
+but he felt that it would be impossible for him to stoop to pick it up.
+It must be a struggle of muscle against muscle.  Thrusting out his right
+hand, he grasped the snake by the neck, at the same time shouting aloud
+for help.  The creature no sooner felt its antagonist's grasp, than it
+turned its head, endeavouring to bite.  Finding itself unable to seize
+Ernest's hand, it drew in its folds, aiming at his face.  The lad in an
+instant found that his muscular power was not nearly equal to that of
+his enemy.  He seized hold of his right wrist with his other hand,
+throwing the whole power of his frame into the effort, but in vain.
+Slowly, inch by inch, his sinews were compelled to yield.  Inch by inch
+the horrid fangs came nearer and nearer to his face.  With the strength
+of despair he contrived to keep the reptile at bay for a few minutes
+longer; but his powers were fast failing him, and he expected every
+moment to feel the sharp teeth lacerating his flesh.  Suddenly a shock
+seemed to be communicated to the monster's frame.  The terrible grip of
+the folds relaxed, and the threatening head drooped lax and powerless.
+Ernest cast his eyes downwards, and perceived that the mastiff had
+seized the tail in his strong jaws, and had almost bitten it in two.
+The muscular force of the serpent was paralysed by the wound, and Ernest
+had no difficulty in disengaging himself from the folds, and flinging
+them--a helpless and writhing mass--on the ground.  Then, catching up
+the hatchet, he struck off the head, just as Omatoko hobbled up, leaning
+on a stick, from the adjoining hut.
+
+"Very big snake," was his comment, "bad poison too.  Lucky him no bite
+white boy, or him dead for certain.  Lucky, too, big dog near at hand.
+Never see bigger snake than that.  Him seventeen--eighteen foot long!
+Big dog just come in time, and that all!"
+
+Meanwhile Warley, who had partially recovered his senses, after bathing
+his face and hands in the fresh water, was returning heartfelt thanks to
+Heaven for his narrow and wonderful deliverance from the most dreadful
+death which the imagination of man can picture.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+MEASURING THE ENEMY--POISONED ARROWS--SUBSTITUTES FOR WATER--OSTRICHES--
+A SAD CASUALTY--A NEW MODE OF DEERSTALKING--OMATOKO TRIUMPHANT.
+
+Warley was still resting, half sitting, half kneeling, on a large stone
+by the side of the pool, when the sound of voices was heard, and Lavie
+came up, accompanied by the two boys.  They were all evidently in high
+spirits.  The doctor carried over his shoulder the carcass of a goat,
+which was large and heavy enough to give him plenty of trouble; and
+Wilmore and Nick each led a young kid by an extempore halter of rushes.
+The pockets of all three were distended by a goodly heap of wild
+medlars, which, in accordance with Omatoko's suggestion, they had
+gathered, and which they had found extremely refreshing.
+
+"Hallo, Omatoko!" shouted Gilbert as they approached the pool.  "Just
+come here and take charge of this chap, will you?  You are more used to
+this kind of thing than I am.  He has done nothing but attempt to bolt
+the whole way home.  I suppose we must eat up the old lady first,
+otherwise I should suggest that this fellow should be roasted for
+supper, if only to make sure that he won't run away again."
+
+The Hottentot came out from the hut as he spoke.  "One, two, three
+goat," he said, "dat good, plenty food, all time we stay here."
+
+"Ay, ay," said Nick, "they say it is an ill wind that blows no one good;
+and the hurricane we had an hour or two ago, is, I suppose, a case in
+point.  Any way, it was obliging enough to blow down a big tree, which
+fell upon the goat there, and finished her outright.  She's a trifle old
+and tough, I expect; but she'll make first-rate mulligatawney soup
+nevertheless; and there will be her two kids, as tender as spring lamb,
+into the bargain.  It makes one's mouth water to think of them.  And,
+then, there's those medlars--but, hallo!  I say, Ernest, what is the
+matter?  Why, you look as pale and weak as if you were just recovering
+from a typhus fever.  What's befallen you?"
+
+"I have had a very narrow escape from a most terrible death, Nick,"
+returned Warley, gravely, "and my nerves haven't got over it."
+
+"Hallo! what?" again exclaimed Gilbert.  "Escape from death, do you say?
+Why, what has happened?"
+
+"Just go in there--into that hut to the right, and you'll see," was the
+answer.
+
+Lavie and Wilmore had by this time learned the main outline of what had
+occurred, from the Hottentot, and they all went into the cottage to
+examine the remains of the great snake.
+
+"A proper brute, that," observed Gilbert, as they stood by the side of
+the reptile, which had by this time ceased to wriggle.  "That is the
+biggest snake I ever came across.  There's his head gone, and a bit of
+his tail; but I don't think what remains can be less than twenty feet.
+Lion, old fellow," he continued, caressing the dog while Frank patted
+his head, "you did that well, and shall have a first-chop supper."
+
+"We can ascertain its length exactly," said Lavie; "I have got a yard
+measure here; and here too is the remainder of the tail.  Stretch the
+body straight out, Frank, and I'll soon tell you the measurement."
+
+The serpent was accordingly measured, and was found to be some inches
+more than nineteen feet long.
+
+"What kind of snake is it?" asked Frank, when this point had been
+determined.
+
+"A python, or boa-constrictor, no doubt," answered the surgeon; "they
+give them other names in these parts, but that is the creature.  No
+other description of serpents that I ever heard of attempts to crush up
+its prey by muscular pressure."
+
+"But serpents which do that are seldom or never venomous, are they?"
+inquired Wilmore.
+
+"I believe not," answered Lavie, "but that point has been disputed.
+Omatoko calls the reptile an `ondara,' and insists upon it that its bite
+is not only poisonous, but causes certain death.  It may be so.  It is
+evident that it would have bitten Ernest if it could; and serpents that
+are devoid of venom do not often bite.  Well, I suppose now that we have
+done measuring the snake, we may throw him away.  The Hottentots, I
+believe, eat their flesh.  But I conclude none of us have any great
+inclination to make our dinner off him."
+
+"No, thank you, sir," said Frank, "not for me."
+
+"Nor for me either, doctor," cried Nick.  "I think I'd rather go without
+food for a week.  Here, Ernest, old fellow--you had better go and lie
+down a bit.  You look as if you were having it out with the python
+still."
+
+Warley was too unwell to rejoin the party all that day and the next.
+The shock he had undergone was a very severe one; and would in all
+likelihood have prostrated any one of his companions for a far longer
+period.  He lay under the shade of the trees on the soft grass the whole
+day, neither speaking himself nor heeding the remarks of others.  Always
+inclined to be serious and thoughtful, this incident had had the effect
+of turning his mind to subjects for which his light-hearted companions
+had little relish, and which Lavie himself could hardly follow.  Even
+when he resumed the old round of occupations, as he did in the course of
+the third day, Frank and Nick noticed a change in him, which they could
+not understand.
+
+Meanwhile Omatoko's bow and arrows proceeded rapidly, and were completed
+on the morning of the third day.  Their construction was a great puzzle
+to the English lads.  The bow was a little less than three feet long,
+and perhaps three-quarters of an inch thick--neatly enough shaped, and
+rounded off, but looking little better than a child's toy.  Omatoko had
+strung it with some sinew from the carcass of the goat.  He had looped
+this over the upper end of the bow, and rolled it round the other in
+such a fashion that by merely twisting the string like a tourniquet, it
+might be strung to any degree of tension.  The arrows too were wholly
+different from any they had ever seen.  The strong reeds brought from
+the edge of the water had been cut off in lengths of about two feet.  At
+one end the notch was inserted; to the other a movable head, made of
+bone, was attached, which stuck fast enough to the shaft during its
+flight through the air, but which became detached from it as soon as it
+was fixed in the body of any animal.  These bone-heads, Omatoko told
+them, were always dipped in some poison, which caused even a slight
+puncture made by them to be fatal.  The entrails of the kaa, or poison
+grub, were considered the most efficient for this purpose; but this was
+not to be met with at all times or in all places, and the juice of the
+euphorbia or the venom of serpents was sometimes substituted.  In the
+present instance he meant to steep the bone-heads in the poison of the
+ondara, which he had carefully preserved.  Omatoko assured them that
+when they set out for his village (as they probably would on the
+following day), they would soon have an opportunity of testing the
+efficiency of his weapons, and laughingly challenged them to a trial of
+skill between his bow and arrows and their guns.
+
+On the following morning accordingly they resumed their route.  Each of
+them carried some of the flesh of the kids, a dozen medlars, and a
+melon.  It was found that the strength of the Hottentot was now so far
+restored that he could keep up with the usual pace at which the others
+walked, and only required a rest of half an hour or so, every two or
+three miles.  They accomplished about a dozen miles that day; and at
+nightfall had reached a wide stony plain, covered here and there with
+patches of grass, but entirely destitute of shrub or tree.  Omatoko
+pointed out a place where a deep projecting slab of rock, resting on two
+enormous stones, and bearing a rude resemblance to a giant's
+chimney-piece, afforded as convenient a shelter for the night as might
+be desired.  It would effectually protect the party from rain and wind,
+nor was there the least fear of wild animals, as none were ever known to
+come within two or three miles of the spot, there being neither
+pasturage nor water.
+
+"No water," repeated Frank, "that's rather a doubtful advantage, isn't
+it?  What are we to drink, I wonder?"
+
+The Hottentot only grinned in reply; and disengaging the knife which
+always hung at Nick's girdle, began grubbing in the ground among the
+stones.  In a few minutes he dug up several round, or rather spherical
+roots, two or three feet in circumference.  These he cut open with the
+knife, displaying the inside, which had a white appearance, and was soft
+and pulpy.  The boys had no sooner applied this to their lips than they
+broke out into exclamations of delight.  "That's your sort," exclaimed
+Nick; "it's like a delicious melon, only it's twice as refreshing."
+
+"Omatoko, you're a trump," cried Frank.  "You'd make a fortune, if you
+could only sell these in Covent Garden market.  Nobody that could get
+them would ever drink water again."
+
+"What are they called, Charles," asked Warley.  "Are they to be met with
+elsewhere in South Africa, or only here?"
+
+"The root is called the `markwhae,' I believe," answered the doctor,
+"and it is to be found in almost every neighbourhood where there is a
+want of water.  It is another of those wonderful provisions of Divine
+Wisdom for the wants of its creatures, with which this land abounds.  In
+some parts, such of the wild animals as are herbivorous, are continually
+digging up and devouring these roots.  Vangelt told me that he once came
+upon a tribe of Hottentots which subsisted entirely without water, the
+succulent plants supplying even the cattle with sufficient liquid."
+
+"Well, that is very wonderful," said Frank.  "I declare I feel more
+refreshed by that one root, than if I had drunk a pailful of water.  Are
+there any more of these roots on the way to your village, Omatoko?"
+
+"Omatoko's village, one, two days away.  No roots, plenty water,"
+returned the Hottentot.  "Well, that will do as well, I suppose.  But
+this is a thing worth knowing, if one should find one's self in a place
+where there is no water."
+
+The next day at sunrise they resumed their way, and made their mid-day
+halt on the skirts of a dense growth of mingled aloes and underwood,
+which was scarcely anywhere more than five feet in height.  Here they
+sat down by the side of a spring, which gushed forth from a limestone
+rock into a small natural basin, whence it spread itself in all
+directions, sustaining a rich emerald carpet for a few feet round, but
+soon disappearing in the sand.
+
+"Plenty of visitors here at night," remarked Warley, gazing curiously
+round him on the numerous footmarks of all shapes and sizes, with which
+the borders of the spring were indented.  "It must be a curious sight to
+witness such an _omnium gatherum_.  Only I suppose the more timid
+animals make sure that the lions and leopards are well out of the way,
+before they venture here themselves."
+
+"Of what creature is that the spoor?" asked Frank, pointing to a broad,
+deep mark, much larger than the rest.  "That is the track of some beast
+which I do not recognise."
+
+"It is not the track of a beast," said the surgeon.  "Unless I am
+mistaken, that is the spoor of the ostrich--is it not, Omatoko?"
+
+"Ya, ostrich--plenty 'bout here.  See yonder."  He pointed as he spoke
+to a distant part of the bush, where the heads of a troop of ostriches
+might be seen as they stalked easily along, browsing as they went.
+
+"Eh, ostriches!  You don't mean it," exclaimed Frank, starting up in
+great excitement.  "I never saw an ostrich.  I want to see one beyond
+anything!  Couldn't we shoot one, Charles?  Are they quite out of shot?"
+
+"Much too far to make it worth while trying," said Lavie.  "But we might
+bring one or two down by a stratagem, perhaps.  If you four spread
+yourselves in all directions to the right yonder, and drive them this
+way, I could hide behind the rock there and bring one down as they went
+past.  Couldn't that be managed, Omatoko?"
+
+"One, two, three, four drive ostrich this way.  Omatoko kill one, two--
+with bow and arrow.  Omatoko no miss."
+
+"What, do you think your bow and arrow better than Charles's rifle?"
+exclaimed Nick; "well, that is coming it strong, anyhow."
+
+"I tell you what," said Warley, "this will be a famous opportunity for
+you to have the match out for which you were so anxious the other day.
+You and Charles shall both hide behind the rock there, and Frank, Nick,
+and myself will fetch a compass and drive the ostriches past you.  Then
+we shall see which will take the longest and truest shot.  What do you
+say, Charles?"
+
+"I have no objection, I am sure," said Lavie, laughing; "only I hope the
+trial won't go against me.  It would be most ignominious to be beaten by
+a bow and arrows.  I should never hear the last of it, I expect!"
+
+"Don't be afraid, Charles, there's no fear of that," returned Warley,
+reciprocating the laugh.  "Well, now let us be off.  If you'll take the
+right side, Nick, and you, Frank, the left, I'll take the middle, and
+we'll come upon them all together.  Lion had better stay here."
+
+The three lads set out accordingly, creeping noiselessly through the
+cover of the scrub, at a distance too far for even the quick-eared
+ostriches to perceive them, until they had all attained their appointed
+places.  Then they advanced on the birds, shouting and hallooing, and
+waving sticks over their heads.
+
+The ostriches instantly took to flight after their fashion, skimming
+along with expanded wings, and covering twelve or fourteen feet at every
+stride.  They passed the rock behind which the two marksmen were
+concealed, at a speed which would have far outstripped the swiftest
+racehorse at Newmarket.  But as they darted by, there came the crack of
+the doctor's rifle, and at the same moment Omatoko's arrow leaped from
+his bow.  Both missiles hit their mark, but with a different result.
+Charles's bullet struck the bird he aimed at just under the wing; the
+shot was mortal, and the ostrich staggering forward a few paces fell
+dead to the ground Omatoko's arrow pierced his quarry through the neck,
+and the barbed point remained in the wound, rendering death equally
+certain, but not so speedy.  Perceiving that the ostrich did not fall,
+Lion sprang after it, heedless of the doctor's order to him to return,
+and a sharp chase began.  The ostrich would speedily have distanced its
+pursuer, if it had not been for the pain and exhaustion of the wound it
+had received, and the effect of the poison, which had now begun to work.
+The dog soon began to gain ground, and presently came up with the
+fugitive; which turned to bay at last in the agony of its rage and fear.
+Lion had never been trained for the chase of the ostrich, which can
+only be approached with safety from behind.  As he came bounding up, the
+bird kicked at him, throwing its leg forward as a man does, and with
+such tremendous force that the mastiff fell to the ground on the
+instant, bleeding and stunned, if not dead.  Then the wounded bird
+staggered away into the scrub, its strength and courage giving way more
+and more every moment.
+
+The boys had no time to congratulate their friend on his victory, or
+even to examine the fallen ostrich.  Their thoughts were wholly occupied
+with the disaster which had befallen Lion.
+
+"Lion, Lion, dear old boy, how could you be so foolish?" exclaimed
+Frank, as he picked up the bleeding and insensible body of his
+favourite.  "I am afraid he's killed.  That kick would have finished a
+horse, let alone a dog.  What fearful strength those creatures must
+have!  Oh, Lion, Lion, my poor old fellow!  I'd rather have broken my
+leg any day than lost you."
+
+"Let me take a look at him," said Lavie, who had now come up.  "All
+depends on where the ostrich's foot struck him.  No, I don't think he's
+killed, Frank," he added presently, after feeling the animal all over.
+"There are a couple of ribs broken, and a large bruise in the side, but
+that seems to be the extent of the casualty.  I'll set the ribs, and he
+must keep quiet for some days, and then I expect he'll be right again."
+
+"Oh, I am so glad," said Wilmore.  "Yes, you're right, Charles," he
+continued, as the dog opened its eyes again and attempted to get up, but
+fell back on the grass with a low moan of pain.  "Never mind, Lion,
+we'll nurse you through it, old chap, won't we?"
+
+"Relieve each other in alternate watches, change bandages, and apply
+fresh lotion every three hours," suggested Nick.  "But with all possible
+respect for Lion, how are we to do that?  Where are the bandages, and
+where the lotion?  Nay, where is the hospital bed to which the patient
+is to be consigned?"
+
+"Omatoko must put up a hut, and we must stay here until Lion can go with
+us," said Wilmore gruffly.  "If we could wait three days for a pagan
+Hottentot, we may wait as many, surely, for a Christian dog!"
+
+"I don't think you'll get Omatoko to stay here for all the dogs that
+ever were whelped," said Nick.  "He's in too much of a hurry to put salt
+on the tails of those Bushmen."
+
+"He must stay, and he shall!" returned Wilmore angrily; "I won't have
+the dog thrown over.  We are four, and he is only one.  Stay he shall, I
+say."
+
+"Gently, Frank," said the doctor.  "I'm against throwing Lion over as
+much as you are, but I don't see how we can stay here.  The dog won't be
+fit to walk--no, not a hundred yards--for this fortnight, and it would
+probably kill him, if he attempted it."
+
+"What's to be done, then?" rejoined Frank shortly.
+
+"Do as we did with Omatoko.  Make a litter and carry him to the
+Hottentot kraal.  It is not more than seven or eight miles, and we can
+relieve one another.  Luckily he is not such a weight as Omatoko.  I
+suppose that will satisfy you, won't it?"
+
+"Yes, of course, Charles," said Wilmore.  "It is very kind of you.  I am
+afraid I was rather cross, wasn't I? but you see--"
+
+"All right, old fellow, I know you're fond of Lion; so we all are,
+though perhaps not _so_ fond.  Do you go and cut some of the osiers
+there, Omatoko will soon make them into a basket, large enough to hold
+the dog, and we'll carry it on a pole slung across our shoulders.
+Meanwhile I'll dress the old fellow's wounds."
+
+Omatoko proved to be as skilful a basket-maker as Lavie had predicted;
+and the party were making preparations for a start, when the Hottentot,
+who had just returned from the osier bed with a last supply of twigs,
+announced that there was a herd of noble koodoos about half a mile off,
+feeding on a patch of sweet grass.  They were rare in that part of the
+country, and the best of eating.  "Suppose we kill two, three, four of
+them; my people like them much.  They come fetch them."
+
+"Two, three, or four," exclaimed Frank--"who is going to do that?  Why,
+these koodoos, if I have been told rightly, are the shyest of all the
+boks, and won't let any one come near them.  We might possibly get one
+shot, but certainly not more."
+
+"Me do it," said the Hottentot; "no want help; white boy only sit
+still."
+
+There seemed no reason for refusing his request, and the boys, laying
+aside the various articles with which they had loaded themselves,
+watched his proceedings with a good deal of interest.  He first took the
+knife, and going to the spot where the body of the ostrich was lying,
+passed it round the creature's throat and under the wings, severing
+these parts from the rest of the carcass.  He then slit open the long
+neck from top to bottom, removed the bones and flesh, and introduced in
+their place a strong stick, over which he neatly sewed up the skin
+again.  He then cleared away in like manner the blood and the fat from
+the back and wings, and sewed another pad of skin under them.  These
+preparations took a considerable time; but Omatoko assured the
+lookers-on that there was little fear of the koodoos leaving their
+present pasture for several hours to come at the least, unless they
+should be molested.
+
+The Hottentot had now nearly done his work; his last act was to gather
+up in his hand some light-tinted earth, which was nearly of the same
+colour as an ostrich's legs, and dipping it in water, besmeared his own
+supporters with it.  Then taking his bow and arrows in one hand, and the
+back and neck of the slain bird in the other, he crept down into the
+bush.  Presently the boys saw the figure of an ostrich appear above the
+shrubs and stalk leisurely along, pecking at the herbage right and left,
+as it advanced.
+
+"That can't be Omatoko, to be sure," cried Frank in amazement; "that's a
+real ostrich!  Where can he be hiding?"
+
+"He is waiting for the others," said Warley.  "See yonder, the whole
+flock are returning.  Omatoko will no doubt slip in among them.  We
+shall distinguish him, if we watch narrowly."
+
+It seemed as if Ernest was right.  The ostriches came straggling back
+through the bush, and the one they had noticed first lingered about till
+they had overtaken him, when he accompanied them as they strayed on
+towards the koodoos.
+
+"Do you see Omatoko?" asked Nick, as the ostriches and boks became
+mingled together.
+
+"No, I don't," said Frank, "He can't have come out yet.  He is biding
+his time, I expect."
+
+At this moment there came a faint sound like the distant twanging of a
+bow, and one of the boks was seen to fall.  The herd started and looked
+suspiciously round them; and the ostriches seemed to share their
+uneasiness.  But there was no enemy in sight, and after a few minutes of
+anxious hesitation, they recommenced browsing.  A second twang was
+succeeded by a second fall, and the boks again tossed their heads and
+snuffed the air, prepared for immediate flight.  They still lingered,
+however, until the overthrow of a third of their number effectually
+roused them.  They bounded off at their utmost speed, but not before a
+fourth shaft had laid one of the fugitives low.  Then the lads, full of
+astonishment and admiration, came racing up, and Omatoko, throwing off
+his disguise, exclaimed exultingly--
+
+"Two, three, four; Omatoko said `four.'  White boy believe Omatoko now!"
+
+"He has you there, Frank," said Nick, laughing; "but I must own I could
+not have believed it possible, if I had not seen it."
+
+"Live and learn," said Lavie.  "I had seen it before, or I might have
+been of your mind.  Well, Omatoko, what now?  We have stayed so long
+that.  We shan't be able to reach your village to-night, if we carry the
+dog."
+
+"Omatoko go alone.  He bring men to-morrow; carry koodoo, dog and all."
+
+"Very good," said the doctor, "and we'll camp here.  That will suit us
+all."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+A HOTTENTOT KRAAL--THE HOTTENTOT CHIEF--UMBOO'S MESSAGE--NEWS FROM CAPE
+TOWN--THE HOTTENTOT PROGRAMME--LEARNED SPECULATIONS.
+
+The sun had hardly risen on the following morning when the quarters
+where they had bivouacked were surrounded by a bevy of dark skins, whose
+curiosity to see the strangers was at least equal to that of the boys to
+see them.  The latter were bewildered by the multitude of small
+copper-coloured men by whom they were environed, their thin faces, small
+sunken eyes wide apart from one another, thick lips, and flat noses,
+rendering them objects as hideous in European eyes as could well be
+imagined.  Their conversation too--for they talked rapidly and
+incessantly among themselves--sounded the strangest Babel that ever was
+poured into civilised ears.  It resembled the continued chattering of
+teeth, the tongue being continually struck against the jaws or palate;
+and for a long time the lads almost believed that the men were simply
+gibbering, like monkeys, at one another.  Omatoko, however, who was
+either a personage of real authority in his tribe, or felt himself
+entitled to assume authority under the circumstances of the case, soon
+convinced them that his countrymen understood the orders which he gave
+them, and were, moreover, ready to obey him.  At his command two of them
+took on their shoulders the basket, in which Lion had been carefully
+laid on a heap of dried grass, and trotted nimbly off with it; Frank,
+who had witnessed the manoeuvre, running by the side, and steadying the
+litter with his hand, whenever any piece of rough ground had to be
+traversed.
+
+This part of the work despatched, Omatoko next went down to the place
+where the carcasses of the koodoos had been carefully protected from
+vultures and hyenas by a heap of logs laid over them.  Committing each
+koodoo to the care of three or four, whom he chose out of the throng for
+the purpose, he sent them after the others.  Then he himself,
+accompanied by his nephew, whom he introduced by the name of "Toboo,"
+and the son of the chief, whom he addressed as "Kalambo," prepared to
+set out on the journey, as a guard of honour to the Englishmen.
+
+In about two hours' time they arrived at the kraal, where the chief,
+Umboo, was expecting them; and the three lads, who had been on the look
+out for something entirely different to all that they had ever beheld
+before, were, for once, not disappointed.
+
+The village was built in the shape of a perfect oval, each cottage
+approaching its next neighbour so nearly as only to allow room for
+passing to and fro; and on the outer side of the ellipse were enclosures
+for the cattle.  The boys were somewhat surprised at this arrangement,
+having been prepared to find the oxen pastured in the space enclosed by
+the huts, where they would have been safe from attack until the men had
+been overpowered.  But they learned afterwards that the Hottentots
+rather desired that the cattle should protect them, than they the
+cattle.  In the event of an attack from an enemy, the latter would, it
+was reckoned, be unwilling to destroy the sheep and oxen--the latter,
+indeed, being in general the booty which had been the inciting cause of
+the attack--and thus time was gained, and the enemy taken at a
+disadvantage.
+
+The houses themselves were circular, composed of wicker-work overlaid
+with matting; this latter being woven out of rushes, and further sewn
+with the fibre of the mimosa.  The mats supplied a twofold want.  They
+readily admitted the passage of air, and so secured good ventilation;
+and they were of a texture so porous that rain only caused them to close
+tighter, and so rendered them waterproof.  Our travellers had already
+had satisfactory evidence of their efficiency in this respect during
+their three days' halt in the rocky defile.  Like all other huts
+belonging to savages in these regions, they had only one opening, which
+served as door, window, and chimney.
+
+The boys had only time for a very cursory survey of these particulars,
+when they were hurried into the dwelling of Umboo the chief of the
+tribe, who, they were told, was impatiently expecting them.  Without
+waiting therefore to wash or cool themselves, or change any part of
+their dress, they passed into the royal hut, as it might be termed;
+though, on examination, it was not found to be materially different from
+those around it.
+
+It was larger, certainly, and perhaps a foot higher, the ordinary huts
+not being more than five feet in height.  The floor was strewn with
+karosses, on one of which the great Umboo was sitting when they entered.
+In the background several of his wives--he was said to have nearly a
+dozen--were sitting; mostly young, well-shaped women, though their
+figures were almost concealed from sight by numberless necklaces,
+girdles, armlets, and anklets, ornamented after a strange and bizarre
+fashion with shells, tigers' teeth, polished stones, and metal spangles
+of all shapes and sizes--obtained doubtless from tradings with the
+whites.  The chief himself was attired after a fashion so extraordinary,
+that the boys, and particularly Nick, could with difficulty restrain a
+shout of laughter as their eyes lighted upon him.
+
+He was a tall and very stout man, with features which, for one of his
+race, might be accounted handsome; and his dress, however anomalous in
+the estimation of Europeans, was doubtless regarded with respect and
+even awe by his own subjects.  It consisted of a full-bottomed wig,
+which had probably once graced the head of some Dutch official, though
+every vestige of powder had long disappeared.  The lower folds of this
+headdress fell over the collar of the red coat of an English grenadier--
+a souvenir probably of Muizenberg or Blauenberg--the rusty buttons and
+tarnished embroidery testifying to the hard service which the garment in
+question had seen.  Below the coat, so far as the mid-calf, Umboo's
+person remained in its natural state, always excepting the red ochre and
+grease with which it was liberally besmeared, the odour from which,
+under the broiling sun, was almost unendurable.  The royal costume was
+completed by a pair of top-boots with brass spurs attached--suggesting a
+curious inquiry as to the number of owners through which the articles
+must have passed, before they were transferred from the legs of an
+English squire to those of a Namaqua chief.
+
+Umboo had noticed the demeanour of the younger portion of his visitors,
+but he had happily no suspicion of its true explanation, being himself
+rather inclined to attribute it to the awe which his presence inspired.
+He was, however, unacquainted not only with the English language, but
+with the Dutch also; and Omatoko was obliged to act as interpreter
+between the two parties--an office, apparently, which was greatly to his
+taste.
+
+After a long interview, in which the chief manifested the greatest
+curiosity as to the previous history of his visitors, the circumstances
+which had led to their presence in the country, and the course which
+they now proposed to pursue, he was pleased to intimate to them that
+their audience was ended, but that he had assigned a hut for their
+special accommodation, and one of his people to attend on them and
+provide them with food, as long as they remained in the kraal.
+
+Having expressed their thanks and taken leave, the four friends
+withdrew, and were ushered to their house by Toboo, the latter being, as
+they discovered, the attendant of whom the chief had spoken.  Here they
+found Lion, lying in one corner on a heap of reeds, apparently none the
+worse for his journey.
+
+"Well," said Nick, as he threw himself on a bed of dried grass covered
+with one or two karosses, "this is better than the desert, anyhow!  I
+suppose his Majesty, King Umboo, keeps a pretty good table, and a decent
+cook.  Are we to have the honour, by the bye, of dining at the royal
+board, or is a separate cuisine to be kept up for us?  In the first
+instance, will it be necessary to dress for dinner; in the second, who
+is to give orders to the cook?"
+
+"And if we are to be his Majesty's guests, will the Queen be present?"
+asked Frank; "and if she is, which of us is to have the honour of
+handing her in to dinner?"
+
+"You forget, Frank, there is more than one Mrs Umboo.  I believe there
+are as many as a dozen, if not more."
+
+"Well, then, they won't all dine, I suppose, at least not on the same
+day.  I dare say they'll take it in turns, so as to have the advantage
+of improving their manners by European polish," said Wilmore.  "By the
+bye, were those his wives or his daughters that were sitting on the
+skins at the back of the tent.  There was one of them who was very
+nearly being handsome.  If it hadn't been for her hair, which strongly
+resembled a black scrubbing brush, I think she would have been!"
+
+"Ay, I noticed her casting glances at you, Frank," said Nick.  "If she
+was one of Umboo's wives, it is a good job that the royal eyes couldn't
+see through the back of the head to which they belonged, or his Majesty
+might have ordered you both to be burned, or impaled, or disposed of
+after some pleasant fashion of the like description.  But we will hope
+she was a princess, not a queen."
+
+"With all my heart," said Frank, laughing.  "Perhaps she was the
+Princess Royal and, in default of issue male, the heiress presumptive of
+the crown.  It would be great promotion to become Crown Prince of the
+Namaquas.  But here is Charles waiting to speak as soon as he can thrust
+a word in edgewise.  Well, Charles, what is it?"
+
+"Why, if you fellows have done chaffing, there is something of
+importance which I have to tell you."
+
+"Ay, indeed, and what may that be?" inquired Gilbert.
+
+"Why, you know that I have had some conversations with Omatoko in
+Dutch?"
+
+"Yes, we all know that."
+
+"But you, perhaps, did _not_ know that I understand something of the
+Hottentot language also."
+
+"Certainly, none of us understood that," observed Frank.  "Why, Charles,
+how could you ever learn it?  It seems to me nothing but a series of
+chicks, as though they were rattling castanets with their tongues."
+
+"I was laid up once with an accident on a shooting expedition, and was
+nursed by the Hottentots.  I picked up enough of their lingo to
+understand generally what they say, though I don't think I could talk
+it," answered Charles.
+
+"Why didn't you tell Omatoko so?  It would have saved some trouble?"
+asked Warley.
+
+"Why, you see, Ernest, I have had my suspicions of Omatoko from the
+first--that is, I have never been quite satisfied about his good faith,
+though I thought it better to follow his counsel.  But I knew when we
+reached the village, that he would speak freely of his real intentions
+to his countrymen, not having any suspicion that I understood a word of
+what he was saying."
+
+"That was very well thought of," said Warley, "and it was very wise also
+to keep your intention to yourself.  I am glad I didn't know it, any
+way.  But what did you learn to-day?"
+
+"I learned, among other things, that the force which it was supposed the
+English government would send to reconquer the Cape from the Dutch, has
+actually sailed, if it has not landed; and, in my opinion, it is large
+enough to render any resistance on the part of the Dutch hopeless--that
+is, if its strength is correctly reported."
+
+"You don't mean that, Charles!  How could these Hottentots know anything
+about the matter?"
+
+"They are much keener, and take a stronger interest in these things than
+you fancy.  They have always bitterly regretted the restoration of the
+colony to Holland, and the idea of the English again assuming the
+government is very acceptable to them.  It appears that an American
+frigate brought the news on Christmas Day of the approach of an English
+squadron with troops on board, and the news flew like wildfire through
+the country.  The Hottentots heard of it nearly a week ago; but I must
+do Omatoko the justice to say, that he did not know it."
+
+"Well, go on.  That, I suppose, is one of the circumstances which has
+induced Umboo to treat us so civilly?"
+
+"Well, perhaps, in some degree that may be so.  But Umboo is not at all
+sure that the English will get the better of the Dutch, and he won't
+commit himself to either side, until he sees which is likely to gain the
+day."
+
+"Ah, I see.  If the English win, he will make a merit of sending us safe
+to Cape Town; and if the Dutch get the upper hand, he'll hand us over as
+prisoners to the Governor."
+
+"That's very nearly it, I judge, Ernest.  Well, as soon as Omatoko
+learned about the English fleet, he suggested that we should remain in
+the kraal, while a messenger was sent southward to ascertain the exact
+position of things in the colony; and meanwhile a hut should be assigned
+us, and he and his nephew would keep a careful eye on us."
+
+"How kind of them!" said Nick.
+
+"It's the way of the world, Nick," said Lavie; "in England, I am afraid,
+as much as in Namaqua-land.  Well, that being settled, the matter about
+the Bushmen came up next.  It appears Omatoko knows where they are to be
+found.  He overheard them talking of their plans.  They took no trouble
+indeed to disguise them, considering him to be as good as dead already."
+
+"What are they going to do?" asked Wilmore.
+
+"Going to attack and exterminate, if possible, the Bushmen.  Spies are
+to be sent to make sure of their whereabouts, and then a chosen party of
+warriors will go against them."
+
+"They don't expect us to accompany them, I hope," said Warley.
+
+"Well, from what was said, I am afraid they do--that is, they mean to
+urge it.  You see, they know the immense advantage our rifles have over
+their bows and arrows, and our presence would enable them to effect
+their purpose with certainty."
+
+"Well, I suppose you will refuse, Charles, won't you?  You don't want us
+to become mercenary cutthroats for the benefit of these savages?"
+
+"That is putting it rather strong," observed Gilbert.  "These fellows
+have attempted murder--murder of the most cruel kind, and deserve
+punishment--remember that."
+
+"They have done us no wrong, at all events," said Warley; "it cannot be
+our business to punish them.  Besides, shooting these unhappy savages
+down is not the way to teach them better."
+
+"You are right, Ernest," said Lavie.  "I, for one, will have nothing to
+do with any attack upon them.  They may oblige us to accompany them, to
+prevent our escape, but I will take no part in the fighting."
+
+"Nor I," said Frank, "I am not going to kill these poor helpless
+wretches to please any one."
+
+"Very good," added Nick; "I have no wish to do it, either."
+
+"Well, then," said Lavie, "we are agreed.  We will stay quietly here
+until the answer comes from the Cape.  Five to one our fellows have
+thrashed these Dutchmen as soundly as they did before, and the colony is
+ours again by this time; in which case Umboo will be our humble servant.
+If the messenger doesn't return before the party set out to attack the
+Bushmen, we will go with them, if required, but only as spectators.  Is
+that agreed?"
+
+"Agreed, _nem. con._," said Frank.  "And now, here, I suppose, comes
+dinner.  We are not to have the honour of seats at the royal table,
+then!"
+
+"No, that will be reserved for us when Umboo has learned of the defeat
+of the Dutchmen," said Gilbert.
+
+The food served up to them was better and more palatable than they had
+expected.  It consisted chiefly of the flesh of one of the koodoos, and
+was partly broiled and partly sodden.
+
+"Not bad this," exclaimed Gilbert, as a third slice was handed to him,
+which he disposed of after the same fashion which prevailed in the time
+of Adam and Eve, viz., by the help of his fingers and teeth.  "They
+haven't so bad an idea of cooking after all."
+
+"And these figs and pomegranates are not to be despised either,"
+observed Frank.  "They would go down well at a West End dinner!"
+
+"But whatever are these?" cried Nick, digging his hands into a basket of
+what seemed to be burnt almonds, being a heap of oval substances, about
+the size of a filbert, and partially roasted.  "Hum! a strange sort of
+taste, but rather nice, too.  Have some, Charles, you'll find them
+rather good eating."
+
+"Thank you, Nick," returned Lavie, gravely, "I am not fond of insects,
+or I would have a few."
+
+"Insects!" repeated Gilbert, in a tone of mingled surprise and disgust.
+"You can't mean that, to be sure!"  He dropped the handful to which he
+had just helped himself, and looked at the doctor with mouth and eyes
+wide open.
+
+"They are locusts, if I don't mistake," said the latter.  "Hand them up
+here, Frank, and I'll take a closer look at them.  Yes, they are
+locusts.  These Hottentots consider them a great dainty."
+
+"The nasty wretches!" cried Nick, starting up and throwing away the
+viands he had been consuming.  "To think I should live to sup on
+beetles!  Hand us the bowl of milk there, Ernest.  I suppose _that's_
+all right, isn't it?  That comes from a cow, and not a crocodile, or
+something of the sort?"
+
+"Yes, that's all right, Nick," said Lavie, laughing; "and, after all,
+there are many other people who eat locusts besides these Hottentots."
+
+"Every one to his taste," said Gilbert, setting down the bowl after a
+long draught.  "Mine doesn't incline to roasted insects.  However, that
+milk has pretty well taken the taste out.  And now, I suppose the next
+thing is to go to bed.  I was up very early this morning, and have had a
+hard day of it.  What do you say, Frank?"
+
+"I say ditto to you," said Wilmore.  "I shall just roll myself up in one
+of these skins to keep off the flies, and shut up for the night.  Good
+night, Lion, old boy; I wish you a sound repose."
+
+The two boys accordingly wrapped themselves in the deer-hides which were
+scattered on the floor, and lay down, each with a roll of matting for a
+pillow.  In two or three minutes their regular breathing announced that
+they were fast asleep.  But Ernest and Charles did not follow their
+example.  They sat near the entrance of the hut, smoking their pipes,
+and conversing on subjects which had but little interest for their
+companions.
+
+"These Hottentots are a strange race," observed Warley.  "I suppose
+nothing is really known of their origin and history."
+
+"Nothing, I believe, with any certainty," returned the doctor.  "They
+seem to have no traditions on the subject, which is a rare circumstance
+in the history of any people.  Their very name is uncertain.  Europeans
+call them Hottentots, or Namaquas, but they themselves do not
+acknowledge either title.  Neither word, in fact, exists in their
+language.  They call some of their tribes `Oerlams,' meaning new-comers
+in the land, and others `Topnars,' or the ancient aboriginal
+inhabitants.  But the early history of these latter is quite unknown."
+
+"And what do you imagine to be their origin, Charles?  They look very
+much like Chinese or Tartars.  They have been supposed to be of Chinese
+origin, have they not?"
+
+"I believe so; but on no intelligible grounds that I ever heard.  I have
+a theory of my own about them; but I don't suppose many would share it."
+
+"What is your theory?"
+
+"Well, I connect them with that strange story in Herodotus, of the
+circumnavigation of Africa, nearly 2500 years ago.  You know the story,
+I suppose?"
+
+"I remember reading it.  I think Herodotus says that Necos, or Pharaoh
+Necho, sent some Phoenicians to circumnavigate Africa.  They set out
+from the Red Sea, I suppose, and sailed through the Straits of
+Babel-Mandeb.  In the third year of their voyage, they returned through
+the Pillars of Hercules, along the northern coast of Africa to Memphis."
+
+"Yes, that is right.  They reported, if you remember as a circumstance
+accounted by Herodotus as incredible, that when they had sailed some
+distance along the eastern shore of Africa, they had the sun on their
+right hand."
+
+"Just so.  And I have always regarded that statement as an unanswerable
+proof that they really did make the voyage as they asserted."
+
+"I quite agree with you.  Well, their story was that in the autumn of
+_their_ year, but the spring in South Africa, they went on shore, sowed
+some land with corn, and waited till the crop was gathered in, when they
+stored it on board, and resumed their voyage.  They did this twice, but
+in the third year reached home."
+
+"That was their report, exactly, I believe.  But what then?"
+
+"Why, I think the Hottentots must be the descendants of some of the
+Egyptians who went on that voyage; for though the ships were navigated
+by Phoenicians, the crews were in all likelihood Egyptian.  If you
+divide the coast-line from the Red Sea to Gibraltar into three equal
+parts, the spots which make one-third and two-thirds of the distance,
+are the mouth of the Zambesi river, and the coast of great Namaqua-land.
+Now, the Phoenicians and Egyptians, who made up the expedition, must
+have remained several months at each place.  What more likely that they
+would intermarry with any native women they might find there; nay, is it
+improbable that some one or two remained behind, and became the
+progenitors of the Hottentots and Bushmen?"
+
+"It is what often happens in such expeditions, no doubt.  But is there
+any resemblance between the old Egyptians and these Hottentots?"
+
+"Yes, several very curious resemblances.  Their personal appearance is
+exactly like that of the ancient Copts, who still inhabit some parts of
+Egypt; and there is one very remarkable peculiarity, which anatomists
+say is to be found only in these two races.  The Coptic nearly resembles
+the Hottentot language, a good many roots and some words being the same
+in both.  They have several customs in common; as for instance, they
+will not eat swine's flesh, and they worship a kind of beetle, which I
+believe no other nations do.  Lastly, the Bushmen, who are believed to
+be a more degraded branch of the same race, ornament walls and flat
+slabs of rock with mural paintings, in which travellers have recognised
+a likeness to those of ancient Egypt."
+
+"Well, that is curious, certainly.  I should like to see those
+paintings.  But, supposing your theory as to the Hottentots being of
+Coptic descent to be true, they might have made their way southwards in
+successive ages through Central Africa, might they not?"
+
+"Of course, and so might the Kaffirs, who also are like the old
+Egyptians in many things.  But if that were so, surely some traces of
+them would be found somewhere in Central Africa.  They would hardly have
+passed through a vast tract of country in the slow succession of
+generations, and left no mark of their residence behind."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+A CHALLENGE--A STRATAGEM DETECTED--ASSEGAI VERSUS RIFLE--THE FEAST--THE
+DANCE--A FORAY--THE BOYS ESCAPE.
+
+Two or three weeks now passed during which nothing of any importance
+occurred.  Lion continued to mend, though very slowly, and was unable to
+walk any distance.  A messenger had been despatched southward, and his
+return was impatiently looked for.  Spies also had gone out to track the
+Bushmen, but they too were still absent.  Meanwhile the Englishmen were
+treated with all civility; Toboo every day supplying their table with
+Hottentot luxuries, and the chief, attended by Omatoko as interpreter,
+paying them continual visits.  It was very amusing to the boys to watch
+the asides between their two visitors, which the latter supposed to be
+quite unintelligible to their guests, but which were always explained to
+them by the doctor, as soon as the Hottentots had departed.
+
+They learned in this way that Umboo was very anxious to possess one, at
+least, of the guns which the travellers carried, and was disappointed
+that an offer to that effect had not been made to him by one of the
+party.  They were, therefore, in no way surprised, when one day Toboo
+made his appearance, ushering in Omatoko and two of the principal
+personages of the village, who announced that they came with a message
+from the chief.  The latter had heard of their skill with the
+"fire-tube," as they styled it, and was desirous of measuring his own
+skill as a marksman against theirs.  He proposed that a mark should be
+set up at the distance of a hundred yards, which the doctor should
+endeavour to hit with a bullet from his rifle, and Umboo with his
+assegai.  Whichever made the more successful shot was to be accounted
+the victor, and the weapons employed in the contest were to become his
+exclusive property.
+
+"The cunning old rogue," exclaimed Nick, _sotto voce_, to his neighbour,
+Frank.  "He is determined to get hold of Charles's rifle, if he can.
+But I suppose Charles can hardly decline the contest."
+
+"No," said Frank, "and there is no reason why he should.  He is
+tolerably sure to beat this nigger hollow.  But let us hear what he
+says."
+
+As soon as Omatoko had delivered the challenge, the doctor replied that
+he was quite ready for the trial proposed, and accepted the conditions.
+A day was then named, and an invitation given to all the party to dine
+with the chief after the settlement of the contest.  All preliminaries
+having been arranged, the ambassadors withdrew, followed by Omatoko,--
+all three apparently greatly pleased at the result of the interview.
+
+"What a flat that Umboo must be," exclaimed Nick, when they had
+departed, "to believe that he could throw a spear with a better aim than
+Charles can take with his rifle!  Why, even Omatoko, with his bow and
+arrow, was no match for Charles and his gun; and it is much easier to
+hit with a bow and arrow than with a spear, or assegai, as they call
+it."
+
+"Well, I don't know that Umboo is so very far wrong," said Lavie.  "Some
+of these Hottentots can throw the assegai with wonderful skill.  If
+Umboo is a good performer, as I suppose he is by his challenging me,
+he'll surprise you with his skill, I expect, though I hardly think he
+will outshoot me."
+
+"Outshoot you!  Well, as a fellow is said to take a _shot_ with a spear,
+I suppose it may be called shooting, though it is shooting after a very
+funny sort," said Warley.  "What is the day appointed for this match,
+Charles?"
+
+"Wednesday--the day after to-morrow.  I suppose two days are allowed for
+preparing the banquet with which he means to celebrate the victory he
+makes so sure of."
+
+"Probably.  But it really is odd that he should feel so confident.
+Omatoko must have told him of the affair of the ostriches, and that
+would hardly encourage him."
+
+"They're up to some scheme," said Nick, "I have felt sure of that from
+the first.  They are going to give you something that will make your
+hand unsteady, or play some trick with your rifle.  If I were you,
+doctor, I'd hide my rifle away in some safe place till Wednesday."
+
+"Well, I'll tell you what happened the night before last," said Warley.
+"I thought little of it at the time, but it looks different now.  You
+were all asleep, and I was just going off too, when I fancied I saw
+something moving near the door.  It might be a snake, I thought--I'm
+always fancying snakes are about now--so I lifted my head and looked.
+Presently a black head came in at the door, and lay motionless for two
+or three minutes.  The eyes seemed to be taking stock of everything in
+the hut, but particularly of Charles's figure, and his rifle, which was
+lying by his side.  After a little while the head disappeared as
+cautiously as it had come.  I thought it was one of the Hottentots,
+whose curiosity had been roused by what he had been told, and wanted to
+see everything with his own eyes.  But it looks now as though there was
+something more in it."
+
+"You're about right, Ernest," said Nick.  "There's a good deal more in
+it.  Well, doctor, the first thing I advise is, that you and I change
+guns till Wednesday.  I don't imagine they know the difference between
+one gun and another, and if your belt is fastened to my weapon, and you
+carry it about, they'll think you've got your own, and any tricks they
+may attempt will be tried on the wrong article.  And in the second
+place, we'd better take it in turns to keep watch at night till
+Wednesday, and so find out what they're up to."
+
+"I think you're right, Nick," said Lavie.  "You're such a dodger
+yourself, that these fellows can't hold a candle to you.  Well, here's
+my rifle, and I'll take yours, and put it into my belt.  We'd better
+watch from about ten o'clock to six in the morning--the same time as
+when we were on the journey.  What time will you have, Nick?"
+
+"Oh, between twelve and two, if you like," said Nick, "that is the time
+I prefer."
+
+The others making no objection, this was agreed to.  No disturbance took
+place that night or the night following it; but on the Wednesday
+morning--the morning of the match--Nick announced to his companions that
+the same fellow, no doubt, whom Ernest had watched a few days
+previously, had entered the hut last night and carried off, as he
+supposed, Lavie's rifle.
+
+"You didn't let him take it away, did you?" exclaimed Frank in surprise.
+
+"I did, though," said Nick, "and let him bring it back again half an
+hour afterwards.  We had better overhaul it, and see what he has done to
+it."
+
+"Hand it here, and I'll examine it," said the doctor.
+
+The gun was passed to him, and he made a careful examination.  At first
+he could not perceive that there was anything amiss; but on thrusting
+down the ramrod it was found that there was something about a half-crown
+in thickness at the bottom of the barrel.  Probably some thick glutinous
+matter had been poured down the gun, and had hardened almost
+immediately.  This would of course prevent the spark from reaching the
+powder, and so render the gun useless.
+
+"We must take this to pieces by-and-by, and clean it," said the surgeon.
+"Meanwhile, let us change rifles again.  How nicely they will be taken
+in, to be sure!"
+
+About an hour afterwards notice was given them by Toboo, that all was
+prepared for the match.  They stepped out of their hut, and found the
+whole kraal present, and in the greatest state of excitement.  The large
+oval space inside the ring of houses had been chosen as the most
+suitable ground.  At one end a square piece of dark-coloured wood had
+been fastened to a post, and in the middle of the wood, secured by a
+peg, was a round piece of white leather, some four inches in diameter.
+At the other end was a smaller post, at which the marksmen were to stand
+when discharging their weapons.  Near this spot one or two lads were
+holding bundles of assegais intended for the use of Umboo, who was
+leaning against the wall of a cottage a short way off.  He was now
+divested of all his finery, and looked in consequence a far more
+imposing figure.  He was a tall and finely formed man, though somewhat
+too stout; and the great muscles of his arms and legs might have served
+a sculptor for a model.  On a row of mats about ten yards distant from
+the mark, were seated his wives, fully a dozen in number, all clad in
+their most sumptuous apparel in honour of the triumph which their lord
+and master was about to achieve.  Each of them wore half a dozen heavy
+necklaces round her throat, on which were strung beads and shells and
+studs; fish bones and birds' eggs; teeth of fishes and wild beasts;
+small bells and thimbles, and wooden reels on which thread had been
+wound, purchased of European traders and converted to these strange
+uses.  It was not round their necks only that they wore these
+encumbrances; wrists and ankles and waists were similarly loaded, until
+it became almost impossible to distinguish any part of their persons,
+and they were absolutely unable to stand upright under the heavy burden
+of their garniture.  The rest of the women and the men formed two long
+lines on either side of the scene of the contest, and it was evident
+from their looks, that they took the keenest interest in the issue of
+the struggle.
+
+"Now you look here," began Omatoko as soon as the chief and the
+Englishmen had saluted one another; "you each take weapon you mean to
+use--no allowed to change it.  Chief throw three assegais, white
+medicine-man fire three shots; whoever hit nearest middle white leather,
+he win.  If white man win, he have three assegais.  If chief win, he
+have white man's fire-tube.  Is it good?"
+
+"All right.  I make no objection," said Lavie, with a nod of
+intelligence to his companions; and the chief also signifying his
+assent, the trial began.
+
+Umboo was the first to step forward.  He motioned to one of the
+attendants to bring him the bundle of assegais which he carried, and
+made a careful examination of them.  The lads had never before had a
+good sight of this weapon.  It was nearly seven feet in length, the iron
+head being some eight inches long and two broad.  As the spears in
+question had been designed for the chief's own use, the best workmen had
+been employed upon them, and Lavie was really astonished at the skill
+and taste displayed in the manufacture, which could hardly have been
+outdone by the best English workman.  Having chosen his missiles, Umboo
+now prepared to throw them.  Brandishing the first of them in the air,
+and moving his hand to and fro, until it was exactly poised, he bent
+backwards and hurled it with all the force of his herculean frame.  It
+flew straight to the mark, and buried itself in the dark wood a few
+inches from the white leather circle.  Some applause was bestowed; but
+it was plain, from the faces of the bystanders, that this was not
+accounted one of his most skilful efforts.  He hastened to mend his
+fortune with the second spear, but with no better result than before,
+the assegai being fixed in the board, nearly about the same distance
+from the centre as the first.  With an impatient exclamation he caught
+up the third missile, resolved that this time he would not fail His
+exertions were successful.  A burst of admiration broke forth as the
+weapon was seen sticking in the leather itself, though not within an
+inch and a half of the actual centre.
+
+It was now Lavie's turn, and as he advanced to the spot which Umboo had
+just quitted, he was regarded with the utmost curiosity by the
+Hottentots, many of whom had never witnessed the discharge of firearms.
+The doctor's rifle was already loaded.  He raised it to his shoulder,
+slowly lowering it again, until the bead exactly covered the centre of
+the leather.  Then, instantly drawing the trigger, the crack of the
+report was heard, and the bullet passed so exactly through the middle of
+the mark, that the wooden pin was driven out, and the leather dropped to
+the ground.
+
+The three lads vociferously applauded, and the greater part of the
+bystanders could not help lending their voices to swell the shout,
+albeit aware that they might incur the wrath of the chief by such a
+display of feeling.  Umboo was, it was plain, equally astonished and
+annoyed.  He threw a fierce glance at a man of slight supple figure who
+was standing near, and muttered something which the Englishmen did not
+understand.  For a minute he seemed inclined to resent Lavie's victory
+as a personal injury; but he changed his purpose, and observing that, as
+the medicine-man's first shot had beaten all three of his, there was no
+need for him to shoot again, he withdrew to his hut, followed by the
+Hottentot of whom mention has been made; nor did he reappear until the
+feast was ready.
+
+This did not take place for some two hours afterwards, by which time his
+equanimity appeared to be restored.  He placed the four white visitors
+on his right hand, each seated on a separate mat, while on his left were
+two of his sons, Kalambo and Patoo, Omatoko, and the attendant of the
+morning, whose name they had now discovered to be Leshoo.  He was an old
+favourite of the chief, it appeared, and was disliked and dreaded by his
+countrymen generally.  He did not seem to bear the Englishmen any
+particular goodwill, frequently scowling at them as they sat at the
+feast, and whispering remarks into Umboo's ear, which were evidently
+disparaging, if not actually hostile.
+
+"I say, Frank," whispered Nick, "that chap there, on the chief's left,
+is the one who tried to damage the rifle."
+
+"Is he?" answered Frank.  "What makes you think so?"
+
+"I know him by that bald patch on the scalp.  He has had a wound there,
+I suppose; I noticed that as he crawled out of the door of the hut into
+the moonlight.  We'd better keep an eye on him."
+
+The feast lasted a long time, the quantity devoured by the Hottentots
+being only equalled by the gross greediness with which they seized what
+they considered the chief delicacies; and it was a great relief to the
+English guests when it was announced that a dance was going to take
+place outside the hut in their honour.
+
+"A dance?" repeated Nick; "does any one expect a fellow to dance after a
+feed like this?"
+
+"They don't expect you to dance," said Lavie who overheard him.  "You've
+only to sit by and see them dance."
+
+"That's lucky, at all events," said Nick, "but I should think his
+Majesty here and his wives were still less in dancing trim than
+ourselves.  Why, a boa-constrictor, after gorging an ox, would be as fit
+to dance a hornpipe as he."
+
+"Hush, Nick," said Lavie, "somebody may understand you enough to report
+your words, and I don't consider our position here over safe as it is.
+If it hadn't been that we could not spare the rifle, I would have let
+the chief beat me to-day.  But there is no need to provoke them more
+than can be helped."
+
+Nick promised compliance, and followed the doctor out of the hut into an
+open space near the village, under the shade of some large acacias,
+which had been selected as the fittest place for the dance.  It seemed
+that this was to be performed by the Hottentot girls, no men being
+visible among them.  They were gathered in a circle divested of all
+ornaments, indeed of all attire, excepting a linen cincture round the
+waist, and a headdress of the same material.  Several of them held
+melons in their hands, not the large water-melons, with which the party
+had been regaled, but a smaller size, about as big as a large cocoa-nut.
+The moon, which had risen about an hour before, and was nearly at the
+full, poured down a bright light, which rendered every object clearly
+distinguishable.
+
+When all had taken their places, Umboo gave the signal, and the dance
+began.  The spectators clapped their hands, keeping a kind of rude time,
+and accompanying the performance with a low monotonous chant, which
+swelled louder and louder, as the excitement grew greater.  The girls,
+whirling their arms and throwing out their legs right and left, flew
+about, following each other in a circle, tossing the melons from one to
+another, under their thighs, and catching them with wonderful dexterity.
+As the dance went on, the rapidity of the movements increased.  Their
+light figures and animated faces, as they flashed out into the
+moonlight, and back into the shade of the acacias, the dark forms seated
+round, the wild and somewhat melancholy refrain of the voices, combined
+to make up a scene, which was alike strange and striking.  At length the
+chief threw up his hand; the girls, panting and exhausted, threw
+themselves on the ground to recover their breath; and soon afterwards
+Umboo retired to his hut, and the others followed his example.
+
+On the following morning, our travellers were no sooner up and dressed,
+than they became aware that a great commotion was going on in the
+village.  Assegais, bows, and quivers full of arrows had been brought
+out of the cottages, and several men were employed in rubbing the barbs
+with fresh poison.  About ten of the stoutest men were smearing their
+bodies with fat, over which they spread a yellowish red powder; the two
+between them covering their persons as with a second skin.  The stench
+from this ointment was scarcely bearable; but the boys, on inquiry, were
+told that its purpose was to render them supple and active, as well as
+to guard them from the stings of insects.
+
+Lavie soon ascertained that the spies had returned, reporting that the
+Bushmen were encamped at a distance of not more than twenty miles, and
+that it was Umboo's purpose to set out almost immediately, before the
+heat of the day came on, intending to attack the Bushmen an hour or so
+before sunset.  These tidings were soon afterwards confirmed by a
+message from the chief, conveyed through Omatoko, desiring their company
+in the course of another half-hour.  The manner of their quondam guide,
+who was now fully armed and equipped for the march, had undergone
+considerable change.  It was no longer deferential and submissive, but
+imperious and threatening.  He seemed to expect a refusal, and to be
+prepared to take measures for punishing the contumacy of the Englishmen.
+But Lavie was too wary to permit this.  He returned a civil answer,
+informing Umboo that they would be ready at the time named.  Then,
+calling to the others to follow him, he went into the hut to get ready.
+
+As soon as they were safe inside, and free from the jealous scrutiny of
+the Hottentots, the doctor addressed his companions.
+
+"It won't do for us to stay any longer among these fellows," he said;
+"our lives won't be safe if we do.  I have learned that they mean to use
+our help in picking off such of the Bushmen as may be able to escape
+them at close quarters.  But as soon as we have done their work, they
+will strip us of our arms, and knock us on the head, if we resist I
+heard that scoundrel Omatoko, and the fellow they call Leshoo, talking
+over it.  The chief is to have my rifle, and Omatoko Ernest's, while
+Leshoo _is_ to have his choice of Frank's or Nick's."
+
+"I'll make him a present of a bullet out of mine," cried Frank, "if I
+only have the chance."
+
+"Hush, Frank!" said Ernest, "they'll hear you.  But, Charles, how comes
+it that their manner towards us is so strangely altered all of a
+sudden?"
+
+"Well, in the first place, it appears to be owing to Leshoo's secret
+machinations.  He is afraid, it seems, of our favour with Umboo.  In the
+next, the delay in the return, of the messenger sent southward is
+interpreted unfavourably to the English, at least Leshoo represents it
+so.  He says the Dutch must have got the better, or the man would have
+been back before this.  Umboo has now quite taken up this notion."
+
+"Well, what do you advise, Charles?"
+
+"That we go with them without any apparent reluctance, and accept
+whatever service they ask us to undertake.  But as soon as the attack on
+the Bushmen begins, we will, all of us, make off as fast as we can
+southwards.  There are not very many of the Hottentots going on the
+expedition.  They will, almost certainly, be scattered in various
+directions, and be too busy to notice our movements; some will probably
+be killed or wounded.  But even if that be not so, and if at the end of
+the fighting we have not got too far to be followed, still they will
+hardly dare to attack us.  They are notoriously afraid of Europeans, and
+have seen what we can do with our guns."
+
+"And if they do attack us?" asked Nick.
+
+"Then their blood be on their own heads.  It is our lives or theirs, and
+they wantonly provoke the contest."
+
+"We can't do better than follow your advice," said Frank; "I'm your man,
+at all events.  Poor old Lion! we must leave him behind; but that can't
+be helped."
+
+"No," said Warley, "men must be thought of before dogs, however much one
+may like them.  Well, I agree, Charles, and so I can see does Nick."
+
+"That's right, then," said Charles; "now we had better join them.  Don't
+let us give the notion that we are hanging back."
+
+They went out accordingly, and found the party just preparing to start.
+They were greeted by Umboo with feigned civility, which they returned
+with similar politeness, and were requested to take their places in the
+march next to him--Lavie and Frank on his right hand, and Warley and
+Nick on his left, with Omatoko walking next to Frank and Leshoo to Nick.
+In this order they proceeded at a rapid pace for several hours, until
+the heat of the sun became overpoweringly oppressive; then they halted
+in a place shaded by some trees, and provisions were served out, the
+Hottentots digging roots to supply the place of water.  Umboo seated
+himself on the grass, and motioned to the Englishmen to do the same,
+their two attendants, or jailers, as they might more properly be called,
+taking the same positions as in the march.
+
+They remained in their resting-place for three or four hours until the
+great heat of the day was past, and then resumed their route.  About
+five o'clock a second halt was made, and Omatoko having spoken a few
+words apart with the chief, addressed Lavie.  He informed him that Umboo
+intended to post them at various places of ambush, in the neighbourhood
+of the Bushmen's camp, and their duty would be to pick off any fugitives
+who might endeavour to make their escape--adding that Umboo would give a
+large reward for every Bushman so killed.  Lavie and the others accepted
+the commission without the smallest hesitation--again apparently to the
+surprise of Omatoko, and the evident disappointment of Leshoo.  But
+there was nothing more to be said on the subject.  It only remained to
+conduct the four whites to their several stations.  They had now arrived
+within a mile of their enemies; who it appeared had just succeeded in
+killing two buffaloes, and were about to make a feast on the carcasses.
+
+Just as they were on the point of setting out, Lavie purposely dropped
+the case which contained his rifle bullets, which were scattered in all
+directions on the ground.  His companions ran to pick them up, and as
+their heads met, he said in a subdued but perfectly clear tone, "The
+large motjeeri to the south, in a quarter of an hour from the present
+time."
+
+The boys made no answer except a nod of intelligence, as each moved off
+with the guide assigned him.  Then the rest of the Hottentots began
+creeping through the scrub, as stealthily as serpents, towards a large
+rock, under shelter of which a number of the doomed Bushmen might be
+seen, seated in a circle and engaged in devouring huge lumps of meat,
+which they had roasted at a large fire still smouldering close by.
+
+Lavie watched their dusky figures as they disappeared among the foliage,
+and remained motionless at his post for the prescribed number of
+minutes.  Then hurrying as fast as he could go towards the motjeeri, he
+found all three of his companions awaiting him.
+
+"All right!" he exclaimed; "they are just on the point of making their
+attack, and won't have eyes or ears for anything else.  We must put on
+best speed, and not stop till we are five or six miles away at the
+least."
+
+A loud yell broke forth from the rock, as they commenced their flight,
+and was followed by another and another in quick succession.  But they
+grew fainter as the boys hurried on, and soon ceased altogether.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+THE FLIGHT--THE BOYS RECAPTURED--A COUNCIL--THE SHADOW OF DEATH--A
+STRANGE DELIVERANCE.
+
+"Not bad that," said Nick, as he threw himself on the ground, panting
+and footsore, after a run of more than an hour.  "We've not gone less
+than eight miles, I'll take my 'davy, and this gun isn't the lightest
+thing in the world to carry!  Well, Charles, do you mean to make a halt
+of it here to-night, or are we to hoof it again?"
+
+"We must rest here," said Lavie, "an hour or two to recover ourselves a
+little, but no longer.  I don't suppose the Hottentots have done much
+more than discover our absence yet.  They have had plenty to do for the
+present without thinking where we are, and then they will have to make
+out in which direction we have gone.  They will find that out, no doubt,
+notwithstanding all our precautions, but it will take them some time.
+And my hope is, that we shall now baffle them altogether."
+
+"How do you mean?" asked Ernest.
+
+"I mean that we should all take off our shoes, and step into the brook
+here.  We can walk along it, treading only on the stones till we reach
+that long patch of scrub there.  Then I propose that we shall turn
+eastward, and go for a day's journey in that direction before again
+travelling south.  I think that will throw these Hottentots completely
+out, and they will give up the pursuit."
+
+"Well, I have no objection," said Nick, "and I don't suppose the others
+have.  Anything to get out of the hands of those dingy brutes.  How sold
+they will be!  If they could only get hold of one of us, how they would
+pay it off on him!"
+
+"I am afraid they will pay it off on my poor Lion," said Frank.
+"Whatever will become of him, poor fellow!"
+
+"Oh, they'll use him kindly enough," said Lavie, soothingly.  "He is too
+valuable and useful an animal for them to hurt.  As soon as we get to
+Cape Town we'll send a fellow to ransom him.  A dozen large beads or
+brass buttons will soon induce them to give him up."
+
+"Well, at all events we'll hope so," said Warley.  "Well, now, Charles,
+I am rested if the others are--enough, that is, to go on."
+
+"All right," said the doctor.  "Now, the first thing is to take off our
+shoes and stockings."
+
+This was soon done, and the party stepping down into the bed of the
+rivulet, walked in Indian file one after another, taking particular care
+to leave no footprints in the soft earth.  Presently they came to a
+place where the short scrub, with which the slopes were covered,
+descended to the water's edge.  They stepped out upon this, and
+proceeded eastward for a considerable distance, taking the greatest
+pains to leave no trace behind.  After half a mile or so of this
+cautious walking, Lavie considered the danger to be at an end.  Again
+resuming the sharp trot at which they had previously proceeded, in
+another hour they reached some caves in a high range of limestone
+cliffs, where they resolved to rest for the night.  They were too much
+wearied to keep watch.  In five minutes all four were sound asleep.
+
+The next morning they awoke tolerably refreshed, and resuming their
+journey, proceeded still eastward for some seven or eight miles, when
+they halted for their mid-day rest.  There was no lack of food, for soon
+after setting out, they had come upon a grove of bananas, of which each
+of the party had gathered a large bunch.  They could also perceive a
+small streamlet making its way through the brushwood.  Doubtless it
+issued from a mass of limestone rock about a hundred yards distant.  "We
+had better go and drink there," said Lavie.  "We have no drinking-cup
+now, remember, and must use the hollows of our hands, I suppose, or a
+large leaf.  But we shall manage it more easily at the spring head."
+
+He moved off and the others followed, but they were still some yards
+from the fountain, when they were startled by a low deep growl, which
+came apparently from the other side of the rock.
+
+The boys instantly unslung their rifles.  "That's the growl of a lion,"
+said Lavie.  "He is couching by the spring, I expect.  It won't do to
+approach him from the front."
+
+"Hadn't one of us better go round to the clump of trees yonder?" said
+Frank.  "We can get there under cover, and there will be a good sight of
+him from thence."
+
+"I was just going to suggest it," said Lavie.  "And another can climb to
+the top of the cliff here.  It seems quite perpendicular by the spring,
+and if so it will be fifteen or twenty feet over the lion's head.  I'll
+undertake that, if you like, and Frank can cross over to the clump.  The
+other two had better mount this tree.  If the brute springs out,
+there'll be a chance of a good shot at him from this place."
+
+Lavie and Frank accordingly proceeded to put their designs into
+execution.  Ernest and Nick watched them, until Wilmore was hidden in
+the wood, and Lavie half up the rock, when suddenly there came a shout
+of alarm and surprise.  At the same moment their weapons were torn from
+their grasp, and they found themselves in the clutches of Omatoko and
+half a dozen others.
+
+They were unable to make any resistance; the suddenness of the surprise,
+and the overwhelming numbers of the Hottentots rendering it impossible.
+They were soon bound with leather thongs, and hurried off to the
+fountain, where they encountered Lavie and Frank in the same plight as
+themselves.
+
+"How like lion?" asked Omatoko, jeeringly.  "Omatoko lion.  He roar
+well.  White boys go catch lion, get caught themselves!"
+
+"I wish I had known it was you," muttered Nick.  "I'd have put a leaden
+bullet through your carcass as sure as my name's Gilbert!  Well,
+blackie, what next?  Are you going to skin and eat us, now you've got
+us, or what?"
+
+"White boy go back Umboo," said the Hottentot.  "Umboo do as he please."
+
+"And what pleases him won't please us, I guess," muttered Gilbert.
+"Well, there's no help for it.  We must grin and bear it, as the saying
+is.  You may as well untie these thongs, any way.  You may see for
+yourself that we can't possibly escape."
+
+"Omatoko no untie till get back to kraal--then untie quick."
+
+He chuckled as he spoke.  There was some sinister meaning in his words,
+which the prisoners could not fathom, but which it was not pleasant to
+hear.  But they had little time for reflection.  The thongs had no
+sooner been securely fastened, and the guns distributed among the
+leaders of the Hottentots, than they set out on their way home.  It
+appeared that the Englishmen must have followed a very circuitous path,
+for less than four hours' journey brought them to the spot where the
+encounter with the Bushmen had taken place; and there the party rested
+for a couple of hours before proceeding further.
+
+It was a horrid and revolting spectacle which met the eyes of the
+captives as the halt was made.  The bodies of the Bushmen, as well as
+those of their women and children, were scattered about in all
+directions, the corpses having already begun to decompose in the
+scorching sun.  Most of the men had been shot down by arrows from a
+distance, or pierced by assegais.  But the weaker portion of the enemy
+(if they could be so called), had been killed by blows from clubs, or
+stabs delivered at close quarters; and the lads gazed with sickening
+disgust at the helpless and mangled figures, with which the plain for a
+long way round was overspread.  But the slayers did not appear to feel
+the smallest compunction, and Lavie gathered from their conversation,
+that a considerable proportion of the men had effected their escape--a
+circumstance which had greatly provoked Umboo's anger.
+
+Travelling early and late, the kraal was reached about nightfall on the
+following day; when the prisoners were consigned to the custody of
+Omatoko and Leshoo; who took effectual measures to prevent their escape.
+Their arms and legs were secured by thongs, and a belt was passed round
+the waist of each, to which was attached a chain riveted to a strong
+post Omatoko could not be induced to answer any questions, not even the
+eager inquiries made after Lion.  But Toboo, who was of a gentler
+disposition than his uncle, told them that the dog had greatly improved
+during the two or three days of their absence, and could now walk about
+tolerably well.
+
+On the following morning a debate was held in the chief's apartment, to
+which Lavie and the boys were, of course, not admitted; but the
+substance of which they learned afterwards.  There was a considerable
+difference of opinion among the counsellors.  Kalambo and some others
+were for requiring the white men to take an oath that they would make no
+attempt to recover their property, or punish those who had deprived them
+of it; and then to let them depart.  Others, Omatoko among them, were
+for keeping them in close custody, until their friends at the Cape
+agreed to ransom them for a quantity of valuable goods, which were to be
+specified; while one or two were for allowing them to go altogether
+free, and take their guns with them; urging that the goodwill of the
+English was of more value to them than any number of guns.
+
+This last argument was especially urged by Maroro, an old warrior, held
+in much esteem in the village; and his opinion might have prevailed with
+Umboo, if it had not been for Leshoo.  The latter craftily urged that
+the white men would never forgive the injury already done them; and
+though they might take the oath proposed, they would disregard it, as
+soon as they were in safety.  There was nothing to be hoped, he said,
+from the favour of the English, and nothing to be feared from their
+enmity.  Even if they were again to become the owners of the Cape
+Colony, they would know nothing about these English travellers.  As for
+ransom, they would never get anything better, they might rest assured,
+than the four guns, the watches, and clothes of the prisoners, which
+might be regarded as already their own, and which they must be fools
+indeed to give up.
+
+His speech was well calculated to work on the pride and the avarice of
+Umboo, as well as on the fears of the others.  It was resolved, by a
+large majority, that the strangers should not be set at liberty, either
+with, or without, conditions; but the danger that might arise from them
+should be averted by their immediate death.  This point having been
+disposed of, the manner of their execution was the next considered, and
+Leshoo's counsel was again adopted.  He proposed that the white man's
+presumption, in entering on a contest of skill with the chief, should be
+properly punished by each one of them affording, in their several
+persons, an evidence of the chiefs unrivalled skill in the use of arms.
+One of the four, he suggested, should be shot to death by an arrow, a
+second brained by a club, a third pierced by an assegai, while the
+fourth--the white medicine-man himself--should die by his own weapon;
+Umboo, in every instance, being the executioner.
+
+The suggestion was too nattering to the chief's vanity, and too well
+adapted to efface the mortification of his recent defeat, to be
+rejected.  All concurred in it; and it was resolved that it should be
+carried out that very day.  The posts had not yet been removed from the
+places where they had been fixed on the day of the trial of skill, and
+it was agreed that no fitter scene could be chosen for the execution.
+Omatoko, accompanied by Leshoo, was sent to announce to the prisoners
+their approaching doom--an office which the latter, at least, undertook
+_con amore_.
+
+It was a terrible shock, even to Lavie, whose forebodings had been of
+the darkest ever since their capture.  But he had not anticipated
+anything so barbarous, or so sudden.  The tidings were communicated to
+him in Dutch by Omatoko, and it was his office to break it to his
+younger friends.
+
+"Lads," he said, after a few moments of inward prayer for support and
+counsel; "lads, I have something very grave and trying to announce to
+you.  We have all known that our peril, ever since we left the
+_Hooghly_, has been imminent, and that we might be called upon at any
+moment to yield up our lives--"
+
+"And we are called upon to yield them now, Charles?" said Ernest, as the
+doctor paused.  "That is what you want to tell us, is it not?"
+
+"I am sorry to say it is, Ernest.  The Hottentots have resolved on
+putting us all four to death this morning--in an hour from the present
+time--"
+
+"Oh, not in an hour, surely," broke in Gilbert; "they will give us more
+time than that.  They cannot do it."
+
+"They are heathens, Nick, and have never been taught better.  We ought
+to forgive them on that account, even if our religion did not teach us
+to forgive all who wrong us."
+
+"But can nothing be done?" urged Frank passionately.  "Will they not
+listen to our assurances that we are not their enemies; that we mean
+them no harm; that we will ransom our lives by giving them a dozen
+rifles, if they want them; that our friends will avenge our deaths;
+that--oh! there's a hundred things that might be urged."  He thrust
+aside Lion's head, which was resting caressingly on his knee.  "Oh,
+Charles I let us at least try."
+
+"I would, Frank, if it would be of the least use.  But I learn from
+Omatoko, that the matter was most carefully considered, and everything
+we could urge has already been advanced and rejected.  It would but
+waste the time still left us for preparation, and that is short enough.
+Let us pray for strength and resignation; that is all now left us to
+do."
+
+All complied, and knelt on the floor of the hut, while Lion sat silent
+and motionless at their side, gazing from face to face with a wistful
+look, as though he would fain comprehend what was amiss.  Then Warley,
+to whom all seemed instinctively to look, offered up a simple, but
+fervent petition, that God would be pleased to succour them, if He saw
+fit, in their present strait; but if it was His pleasure to take them
+from the world, He would pardon the sins of their past lives, strengthen
+them to meet their doom bravely, and receive them to Himself.  He
+concluded with the Lord's Prayer, in which they all joined fervently,
+and then relapsed into silence; which was not broken until Leshoo
+returned to warn them that all was in readiness.
+
+"You, boy," he said, turning to Frank, "you die first.  Umboo shoot you
+through the heart with arrow.  Then you he kill with club," addressing
+Warley.  "You he throw assegai at," nodding to Nick.  "Medicine-man, he
+come last.  Umboo shoot him dead with own gun!  Medicine-man never shoot
+better himself.  Come now; chief ready."
+
+The prisoners obeyed in silence.  A sharper thrill shot through Frank's
+bosom as he heard he was to be the first to suffer, but the next instant
+it was succeeded by a feeling of thankfulness that he would not witness
+the murder of his friends.
+
+"Good-bye, dear old Lion," he said, stooping over the dog, and stroking
+the smooth head which looked up with such sad wonder into his face; "I
+hope they'll treat you kindly.  Charles," he added, "let us say good-bye
+to one another here.  I shouldn't like to do it before all these
+fellows."
+
+"Good-bye, Frank," said Lavie, throwing his arms round the lad's neck,
+and kissing him on the forehead.  "Good-bye, and God bless you.  We will
+pray for each other to the last."
+
+"I will follow you now," said Wilmore, when he had taken leave in like
+fashion of the other two.  "The sooner this is over the better."
+
+He passed out of the hut with a firm step, looking without flinching on
+the cruel preparations without.  Whatever sinkings of heart he might
+have felt when his doom was first made known to him, they had all
+vanished now.  He was a noble English boy, reared in all manly ways, and
+instructed by a thousand brave examples.  His life, if not faultless,
+had been pure; his conscience void of any deep offence; and for the rest
+he trusted in the God who had bade him trust in Him.  The same heroism
+which the striplings of our race showed on the deck of the _Birkenhead_,
+and in the wild scenes of the Indian mutiny, which upbore young Herbert,
+the high-born and gently nurtured, in his dread ordeal among the Greek
+brigands, was now burning in Frank's bosom.  Let them do what they would
+to him, he would endure it without flinching.
+
+Lavie and the other two lads followed closely after him, and were placed
+by Omatoko on the right hand of the post, to which Wilmore was about to
+be fastened, at a distance of some twelve feet from it.  "Do not let us
+see his death," said Gilbert in a low tone; "it will be too dreadful!"
+
+"No," said Lavie, "it will do none of us good, though I know he will
+meet it bravely.  We will kneel down here, and pray in silence till each
+in his turn is summoned."
+
+He knelt as he spoke, and the others followed his example.
+
+"It is not good," exclaimed old Maroro, as he noticed the action.  "The
+white man is praying to the white man's God.  He will be angry with us,
+for the white man has done no wrong."
+
+He spoke loud enough to be heard even by the chief, who cast a wrathful
+look at him in reply.  If his reputation for wisdom and goodness had not
+stood so high with his countrymen, his boldness might have entailed
+serious consequences upon him.  As it was, he was listened to in angry
+and impatient silence.
+
+Frank had now been led to his station, and Omatoko and Leshoo were
+busied in binding him.  Three cinctures were passed round him, one
+securing the neck, a second the waist, and the third the legs, to the
+strong upright post.  They had just completed their task, and were about
+to retire--Umboo had already fitted the arrow to the string, and was on
+the point of bending it--when a loud cry of mingled surprise and alarm
+was raised by the spectators nearest to the prisoner, and was presently
+echoed by nearly all present Lavie and the two boys started up, looking
+hurriedly round them, half expecting to see a band of armed Englishmen,
+who had come up at that critical moment to their rescue.  But the eyes
+of the Hottentots were not turned in the direction they had expected,
+but into the air a few feet above them.  A small beetle, of the size,
+perhaps, of a child's little finger, was hovering over their heads, its
+green back and speckled belly glittering bright in the beams of the sun.
+All present held their breath, and watched its motions with anxiety and
+awe.  It gyrated awhile immediately above the post, as though seeking
+for some spot on which to settle.  Suddenly it folded its wings, and,
+shooting downwards, alighted on Frank Wilmore's head.  There was a
+second and still louder cry, rising, in the instance of the women, into
+a shriek of terror at this spectacle.  "The god! the god!" they cried.
+"The white boy is the favourite of the god.  He has come to save him.
+Cut the thongs, set him free!  Pray him to forgive us, or we shall all
+die.  He will send drought and murrain!  He will kill our flocks and
+herds!  He will strike us dead with his lightnings!  Not one will
+escape!"
+
+A dozen Hottentots rushed up with their knives, and severed the bonds
+which held the prisoner.  Then lifting him on to their shoulders they
+bore him in triumph through the village, the women singing and dancing
+round him, until the hut of the chief was reached.  There Frank was
+placed by his supporters in the seat of honour, while all present
+prostrated themselves at his feet, entreating mercy.
+
+The lad was at first too much startled and bewildered to understand what
+had happened.  He had closed his eyes, expecting every moment to feel
+the fatal point, and even when he heard the shouts of the bystanders,
+believed it had been raised only because the arrow was on its way.  But
+Lavie, who knew enough of Hottentot superstitions to understand what had
+occurred, hurried up to him, and informing him in a few words what was
+the true explanation of this extraordinary change, desired him to take
+the beetle from his forehead, where it was still resting, and retain it
+in his grasp, but to be extremely careful not to hurt it.
+
+"It is the mantes, Frank," he said, "about which I was telling Ernest
+the other day.  They believe that it is a god, that it will do them the
+most terrible injuries if they offend it, and whomsoever they imagine to
+be its favourite, he may issue any commands he pleases, and is sure to
+be obeyed.  Of course this wonderful deliverance is of God's sending,
+and we will thank Him heartily for it; but at present you must go with
+them and take the mantes with you."
+
+"What shall I have to do, Charles?" said Frank, who, between
+astonishment and joy, could hardly even now understand what was passing.
+"What are they going to do with me?"
+
+"They'll want to make you chief very likely; perhaps offer sacrifices in
+your honour, and all sorts of extravagances of that kind.  Of course you
+will refuse to allow any impiety of that description, and will decline
+to be made chief; but you had better demand that all our property should
+be at once restored to us, and that we should be suffered to depart
+without molestation."
+
+"How am I to make them understand?"
+
+"Omatoko will make them understand you well enough.  He is as much
+frightened as the rest.  You can also, if you like it, require that a
+guide be sent with us for the first part of the journey.  You may be
+quite sure, that whatever you ask they will agree to."
+
+"Won't you stay with me?"
+
+"I think I had better not.  Their feeling of awe and reverence is
+personal to yourself.  They don't regard us as favourites of the god;
+and but for your protection of us, would be ready to put us to death
+this minute.  We are going back to our hut.  I need not tell you to
+offer up our thanks for this great mercy.  We will wait there till you
+join us."
+
+"Well, Charles, I will do as you advise.  But I wish this was over.  I
+can hardly realise to myself what has happened.  It is all like a dream!
+I only feel as if I could think of nothing till I had joined with you
+in your thanksgiving for this wonderful deliverance."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+FRANK, LORD-PARAMOUNT--AN ANT VILLAGE--AMIABLE BEES--A HASTY DRAUGHT--
+SEARCH FOR WATER--A STRANGER.
+
+It was the second day after the narrow escape of our travellers as
+related in the last chapter.  The boys, attended by Lion, who seemed
+quite strong again, were sitting under the shade of some gum trees, in
+the immediate neighbourhood of what appeared to be a deserted village,
+only that the houses were much larger and more solidly built than those
+described in a previous chapter.  They were awaiting the arrival of the
+doctor, who had loitered behind to take leave of Omatoko, and make sure
+that he had set off on his return to the Hottentot kraal.  Frank had had
+very great difficulty in parrying the importunity of the Hottentots, who
+were fully convinced that the prosperity of the tribe would be secured
+for ever, if he would but consent to take upon himself the chiefship,
+from which they were prepared to eject Umboo without further ceremony.
+When they found that his determination on the subject could not be
+overcome, their chagrin was so great, that nothing but their
+superstitious fears of Frank's influence with their deity restrained
+them from using force to compel him to conform to their wishes.  But he
+had, by Lavie's advice, adopted a very curt and lofty demeanour with
+them, refusing to listen to any argument, and peremptorily insisting
+that all the arms belonging to the party should be restored, on pain of
+his heavy displeasure.  This demand was no sooner made known, through
+Omatoko, than it was complied with.  All the Hottentots who had
+possessed themselves of the guns, shot-belts, powder-flasks, watches,
+etc, bringing them back, and laying them at his feet with the humblest
+expressions of contrition.  Umboo was among the suppliants, his cowering
+figure presenting a curious contrast to the haughty and merciless aspect
+he had exhibited only a few hours previously.  Frank raised him up, and
+gravely assured him of his forgiveness; but added that all the strangers
+would depart on the following day, with provisions for one day's
+journey, and Omatoko, as their guide, for the same space of time.  But
+after that, he said, the tribe must make no further inquiry respecting
+them, under penalty, once more, of his displeasure!  Umboo (who in his
+heart, perhaps, was not unwilling to be rid of Frank, notwithstanding
+the overwhelming advantages that would have attended his rule), answered
+submissively, that the pleasure of the "favoured one" should be fully
+executed; and accordingly, on the next day, the travellers had all left
+the village and journeyed northwards, towards the spot known as the
+Elephant's Fountain.  Omatoko, who had been as much terrified as his
+countrymen, waited on them during the journey with abject servility.
+His time was now up, and he had been despatched on his return
+homewards--Lavie (as the reader has heard) accompanying him some way, to
+make sure that, after all, he did not intend to follow them.
+
+"Well, Frank, you did it well, I must say," observed Nick, "and kept
+your countenance a deal better than I should have done, when you talked
+to them of the danger there was of your being displeased, if they failed
+to perform any particular of your sovereign pleasure.  I wonder what
+they thought _would_ have happened, if you had been angry with them!"
+
+"Oh, they thought that there would come a murrain, and cut off the
+cattle; and a blight, and destroy the fruit; and a pestilence, and kill
+themselves.  I had only to order, and I might pitch it into them any way
+I liked!  Omatoko told me so."
+
+"Did he, the rascal!  Well, upon my honour, Frank, if I had been you,
+I'd have ordered them to give him six dozen, and Umboo nine dozen, and
+Leshoo twelve.  It is not one bit more than they deserved, and it would
+have been a sight to see!  The Hottentots would have laid it on, and
+with a will too!"
+
+"You don't mean what you are saying, Nick, I am sure," struck in Warley.
+"I wonder you don't feel that this is not a thing to be made a joke
+of."
+
+"You're right, Ernest," said Frank; "we ought not to take it in that
+way.  Indeed, I am sure I am thankful enough for the mercy shown us, and
+should be sorry if you thought otherwise.  And so does Nick, too, I'll
+answer for it."
+
+"Of course I'm thankful," said Gilbert.  "And I dare say I am too apt to
+turn things into jest.  Well, we'll drop the matter now, at all events.
+And by the same token, here comes the doctor.  Now, I suppose, we shall
+hear whether this place will do for our halt for the night or not.
+Well, doctor, is the rascal really gone?"
+
+"Yes, I am satisfied he is.  I doubted, at first, whether Omatoko really
+believed in the beetle.  He has lived so long among the Dutch, that I
+thought he might have learned better.  But he hasn't, I am persuaded.
+Yes, he has really gone back.  He daren't follow us."
+
+"That is well, at all events.  Well, what do you think of this as a
+halting-place?  It's an abandoned kraal, I suppose, only it must have
+belonged to some tribe of savages, who took more pains with their
+house-building than those Namaquas."
+
+"Kraal, Nick?  Do you suppose these houses, for such they may certainly
+be called; do you suppose these houses to be the handiwork of men?"
+
+"To be sure I do," returned Nick; "who but men could have built them?"
+
+"They are nests of white ants," said Lavie, "and if we were to stay here
+all night, our clothes, our knapsacks, our belts, and everything that
+could be devoured by them, would be gnawed to pieces!"
+
+"Ants, doctor!  You are joking, surely.  What--that hut there, or
+whatever it is, is a good twenty feet high, and thirty, I'll go bail for
+it, in diameter?  Ants make that!  It isn't possible."
+
+"It's true, anyhow," said Lavie.  "I know they have been found more than
+a hundred feet in circumference.  It is the enormous number of the ants
+that enables them to construct such huge dwellings.  And, after all,
+their work is nothing compared with that of the coral insect of the
+Pacific."
+
+"Don't they sometimes build in the trunks of trees?" asked Warley.
+
+"Very frequently," answered the surgeon.  "Their mode of going to work,
+when they do, is very much like their house-building.  In the latter
+case, they heap together an immense mass of earth, which they form into
+innumerable galleries, all leading, inwards, to the central chamber of
+the structure.  When they choose a tree, and they generally pitch upon
+one of the largest trees they can find--a baobab, perhaps, or a giant
+fig--they simply eat these galleries out of the wood, taking care never
+to disturb the outer bark.  In this manner they will sometimes destroy
+the whole inside of a vast fruit tree so completely, that it crumbles to
+dust as soon as touched."
+
+"Well, it is very wonderful," said Frank, "I wonder how it happens that
+we have seen nothing of them during the two hours or so that we have
+been here."
+
+"That is because they work only by night.  It is supposed, I believe,
+that they are torpid by day."
+
+"Well, then, I suppose we must shift our quarters," remarked Nick.  "It
+would not be pleasant to have the clothes eaten off one's back,
+certainly.  We had better start, hadn't we, or it will be late?"
+
+"Stop a moment," said Lavie, who had been carefully noting one
+particular ant-hill for some minutes.  "Ay, I thought so," he added
+presently, "there is a bees' nest in yonder mound, and most likely a
+large accumulation of honey.  If you are fond of honey, you may sup off
+it without difficulty."
+
+"I am very particularly fond of honey," answered Nick, "but I don't know
+about there being no difficulty.  The last time I assisted at the taking
+of a hive, there was a very considerable `difficulty.'  I was stung, in
+fact, so badly, that I vowed never to go near bees again.  However, if
+_you_ don't mind--"
+
+"None of us need mind," said the surgeon; "these bees are different from
+our English bees.  They never sting people.  There isn't even any
+necessity to smoke them."
+
+"Really!" returned Nick.  "Now that I call the height of amiability.
+But are you sure, doctor?  It seems too good to be possible."
+
+"You'll soon see," said Lavie, walking up to the mound he had marked.
+"Ay, there is the hole where the bee went in.  Just hand me the knife,
+Ernest."  He cleared away the earth, avoiding, as much as possible, any
+injury to the work of the bees, and presently laid bare a great mass of
+comb, full of honey and pollen; of this he cut off several large pieces,
+as much as they could conveniently carry; the bees, in complete
+justification of his assurances, offering no kind of interference--a
+fact which drew forth a second eulogium from Nick, who only deplored, he
+said, that they couldn't be conveyed to England, to instruct their
+brethren there.
+
+They now resumed their journey, resolving to camp for the night at the
+first spot where shade and water were to be found.  But their quest was
+not fortunate.  The afternoon was unusually scorching and dry; and
+though they came to several patches of trees and shrubs, they could find
+neither fount nor pool.  At length the sun had declined so low in the
+horizon, that it was plain that scarcely more than an hour of daylight
+remained; and they would have to pass the night without having quenched
+their thirst, unless water should very speedily be discovered.
+
+Under these circumstances they were greatly rejoiced to see Lion, who
+had been trotting along soberly by Frank's side ever since they left the
+ant-hills, suddenly throw up his head and snuff the air, which were his
+modes of indicating that there was a spring at no great distance.
+
+"Hurrah! old fellow," shouted Frank; "off then, and find it.  We'll have
+a race, Nick, which shall reach it first."
+
+They started off, the other two following at a somewhat slower pace.
+Lion soon went ahead, directing the course of the boys towards a small
+kloof, visible about a mile off, containing a grove of palms and date
+trees, with a thick belt of underwood surrounding it.  Heedless of the
+heat, which by this time, however, was a little tempered by the cool
+breeze that had sprung up at sunset, they bounded gaily along, and
+presently reached the kloof.  It appeared to Frank--who, closely
+following Lion, was the first of the four to enter it--quite a little
+Paradise.  Under the shade of the palms, surrounded by delicious
+verdure, was a large spring bubbling up from the ground, and stealing
+away in a brook, which ran babbling through the thicket, until lost to
+sight.
+
+"Hurrah!" he shouted.  "Now for a jolly drink!  What is the matter, old
+boy?" he added a moment afterwards, as Lion instead of plunging into the
+cool water, as was his ordinary habit, stood still on the brink, looking
+up into Frank's face, with a perplexed and wistful look.  "What's the
+matter, Lion, why don't you drink?  I suppose, poor beast," he added,
+"he hasn't quite recovered even yet.  Get out of the way, Lion; what are
+you about?  If you are not thirsty, at all events I am!"
+
+He pushed the mastiff out of the way as he spoke, and throwing himself
+on his hands and knees, took a long and delicious draught.  "You don't
+know what is good, Lion," he said.  "It's a rum colour, and there is an
+odd sort of taste about the water; but it is beautifully cool and
+refreshing.  Come, drink, old chap; it will do you a heap of good."
+
+The dog, however, persistently refused to touch the water; and Nick, who
+by this time had reached the grove, was so struck by the animal's
+demeanour, that he paused before stooping to the waterside, and eyed it
+with mingled doubt and curiosity.  The next minute Lavie's voice was
+heard--
+
+"Don't any of you touch the water till I come."
+
+"I am afraid that warning comes rather late in the day for me," said
+Frank, laughing, though he felt, nevertheless, a little uneasy.  "I've
+had a delicious draught already.  Why isn't one to touch it, Charles?"
+he continued, as the doctor approached.
+
+"I came upon a gnu, a minute or two ago, lying dead in the thicket.  It
+had no wound, and I suspected it had been poisoned.  I know it is very
+often the practice of the Bushmen to mix poisons of one kind or another
+with the wells, and so kill the animals that drink at them.  But very
+likely the water is all right; only I had better examine it before--
+stay, what is this?  Won't Lion drink it?"
+
+"No, he won't," said Frank; "and, Charles, I am sorry to say, I have
+drunk a good deal of it before you called out I am afraid there is
+something wrong.  I feel very queer, anyhow."
+
+"How do you feel?" asked Lavie, taking his pulse.
+
+"I feel a giddiness in my head, and a singing in the ears, and am very
+shaky on my legs.  I had better lie down.  I dare say it will go off
+presently."  He sank, as he spoke, rather than lay down, on the bank.
+
+"Put your fingers down your throat, and try if you can't bring the water
+off again," said the doctor.  "Unluckily, I have no emetic in my
+knapsacks.  The Hottentots emptied out all the drugs, while they had
+possession of our things."
+
+Frank obeyed his directions, but with very little effect.  He became
+presently very drowsy, and Lavie, making a bed for him under a mimosa,
+covered him up with all the spare garments of the rest of the party, and
+some heaps of long dry grass.  In a few minutes Frank seemed to be
+asleep.
+
+"Do you think he is very bad?" inquired Warley earnestly.
+
+"I don't like the look of things, I must say," was the answer; "we don't
+know what the poison is which the Bushmen have mixed with the water, and
+therefore it would be difficult to apply the antidote, even if it could
+be found here.  Generally these poisons work very slow in the instance
+of men, whatever they may do in animals.  The best chance, I think,
+would be to give him large draughts of fresh wholesome water, if we
+could find it.  It would probably dilute the poison and carry it off,
+and it would anyway be good for him, as his pulse shows him to be very
+feverish."
+
+"We'll go and hunt for water," said Warley, "Nick and I; you stay with
+Frank."
+
+They took their guns, and went off in different directions.  Warley
+directed his steps towards another kloof, about two miles off, between
+two high and stony hills.  Trees and grass seemed to be growing in it
+almost as abundantly as in that which he had just left, and if so, there
+was probably either a brook, or water underground, which might be
+obtained by digging.  He hurried on as fast as he could, for the
+darkness was fast coming on, and was within a hundred yards of the
+kloof, when a fine gemsbok, with its tall upright horns, came bounding
+down the narrow path at its utmost speed.  The creature checked itself
+the moment it saw Ernest.  The hills on either side were too steep to be
+mounted, unless at a foot-pace, and the gemsbok's instinct taught it
+that this would place it at the mercy of an enemy.  As soon therefore as
+it could stop itself, it turned short round and galloped back into the
+kloof.  Warley fired after it, but his nerves were discomposed, and the
+light was so bad that he could hardly have hoped to hit.  He could hear
+the bok rushing along with unabated speed, the sound of its feet dying
+off in the gorge of the mountain; but two minutes afterwards there came
+another sound, which seemed like the crack of a ride, though at a
+considerable distance.
+
+If this was so, there must be some person, beside their own party,
+somewhere about; for the shot could not have been fired by either Lavie
+or Nick.  At another time, Warley would have hesitated before going in
+search of a stranger in so wild a region as that of the Kalahari.  The
+shot might have come from a party of Bushmen or Bechuanas; some few of
+whom, he knew, had possessed themselves of European firearms.  In that
+case, himself and his whole party would run a very imminent risk of
+being seized and murdered for the sake of their rifles.  And even if the
+person should prove to be a European, it was as likely as not, that he
+was an escaped convict from the Cape prisons, who might be even more
+dangerous to encounter than the savages of the desert.  But Frank's
+situation forbade any considerations of this kind.  To secure even the
+chance of obtaining help for him, was enough to overpower all other
+calculations.
+
+He hurried on accordingly in the direction whence the sound had come as
+fast as possible, and after half an hour's exertion, was rewarded by
+seeing a long way off the figure of a man carrying a gun over his
+shoulder.  Even at that distance, and in spite of the uncertain light,
+Ernest could perceive that he was a European.  Somewhat assured by this,
+he shouted at the top of his voice, and presently saw the stranger stop,
+and look behind him.  The sight of Ernest seemed to surprise him, for
+after looking fixedly at him for a few moments, he walked rapidly down
+the glen to meet him.  As they approached nearer, Warley could
+distinguish that the new comer was a man advanced in life, but of a
+hardy frame, and his features showed traces of long exposure to the
+extremes of cold and heat His dress was peculiar.  It consisted of a
+hunting-coat of some dark woollen material, with breeches and gaiters to
+match, and a broad leather belt, in which were stuck a variety of
+articles, which might be needed in crossing the desert:--a drinking-cup
+of horn, a flint and steel, a case containing apparently small articles
+of value, together with a powder-flask and shot-case.  His long gun he
+carried slung over his shoulder; and a large broad brimmed hat, the roof
+of which was thick enough to resist the fiery rays of even an African
+sun, completed his attire.  He was not a hunter, that was plain.  He
+could hardly be a farmer or an itinerant trader, and tourists in those
+days were persons very rarely to be met with.  Moreover, his first
+address showed him to be a man of superior education to any of these.
+
+"I wish you good day, sir," he said in correct English, though with
+something of a foreign accent.  "I did not know that there was any other
+traveller in this neighbourhood, or I should have sought his society.
+May I ask your name, and whether you are alone, or one of a party?"
+
+"There are four of us," answered Warley, "we are Englishmen, who have
+been wrecked on the western coast, and are now trying to make our way to
+Cape Town."
+
+"Indeed," returned the stranger, "but you are aware, I presume, that
+this is not the nearest way from the west coast to the town you name.
+You have come a long distance out of your way and chosen a very
+undesirable route."
+
+"No doubt," said Ernest, "but we could not help ourselves.  We fell in
+with a Hottentot tribe, and have had a narrow escape from their hands.
+But we are in a great strait now.  One of our party has incautiously
+drunk a quantity of water at a fountain near here, which we have since
+discovered to be poisoned; and none of us--"
+
+"What the spring in the kloof, about two miles back, I suppose,"
+interrupted the stranger.  "I passed it two or three hours ago.  I
+noticed that it had been poisoned--poisoned by euphorbia juice.  Your
+friend cannot have had much experience of the Kalahari, or he would have
+detected it at once.  You may always know water poisoned in that manner
+by its clay-like appearance.  How much did he drink?"
+
+"A long draught, I am afraid," said Ernest.  "I was not present, but he
+said so."
+
+"How long ago?"
+
+"I should think two hours."
+
+"There is no time to be lost, if his life is to be saved," observed the
+unknown.  "Happily, the antidote is easily found in these parts.  When,
+indeed, are God's mercies ever wanting in the hour of need!"
+
+He spoke the last sentence to himself, rather than to his companion.
+Drawing forth his flint and steel, he struck a light, by which he
+kindled a small lantern, which was one of the articles appended to his
+belt.  By the help of these, he began searching among the herbage which
+grew thickly on either side of the path.  Presently he lighted on the
+plant of which he was in quest.  It was shaped something like an egg,
+which it also nearly resembled in size.  He pulled up two or three
+specimens of this, and shook the dirt from the roots.  Then he again
+addressed Warley.
+
+"Where is your friend?" he said.  "At the kloof, where he drank the
+water, I suppose?  You had better take me to him as quickly as
+possible."
+
+Warley complied in silence.  Lost in wonder at the strangeness of the
+adventure, he led the way down the glen, up which he had mounted an hour
+or so before.
+
+The elder man seemed as little inclined for conversation as himself.
+They proceeded in almost unbroken silence until they had arrived within
+a quarter of a mile of their destination.  Warley stepped on a little in
+advance as they approached the kloof, and Charles came out to meet him.
+
+"How is Frank?" asked Warley in a low tone.
+
+Lavie shook his head.  "Nick has found water, but we cannot get any
+quantity down his throat I have tried everything I can think of, but in
+vain."
+
+"I have fallen in with a man who seems to understand the matter, and
+thinks he can save him."
+
+"A man--what, here in the Kalahari?  What do you mean?"
+
+Warley hurriedly related what had occurred.  "Of course, Charles," he
+said, "I can't answer for his knowledge and skill But hadn't we better
+let him try what he can do?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose we had," said Lavie, after a pause.  "I can do nothing
+for him; and though it is true that the poison is slow in its action,
+yet it is fatal unless its effects are checked.  I'll go and speak to
+the man."
+
+He stepped up to the stranger, and in a few hurried words described the
+condition of his patient.  The newcomer nodded his head.
+
+"Euphorbia poison," he said; "but I trust we shall be in time.  Have you
+any means of heating water?"
+
+"I have some water nearly boiling in the iron pot here."
+
+"That is well.  Be so good as to put some into this cup; rather more
+than half full, if you please."
+
+He took one of the egg-shaped fruits, and pounded it in the hot water.
+When it had been reduced to a fluid state, he signed to Lavie to lift
+Frank's head, and then poured the mixture down the lad's throat.  Then
+covering him up as warmly as he could, he sat down by his side, and took
+his hand.
+
+He sat there, without speaking, for nearly three-quarters of an hour;
+then he looked up and said--
+
+"Let us give thanks to God.  The boy's life will be spared.  He is
+beginning to sweat profusely.  We have now only to keep him warmly
+covered up, and the effects of the poison will pass off."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+THE STRANGER'S STORY--GEORGE SCHMIDT--IMPORTANT NEWS--THE COMMANDO
+SYSTEM--THE ROOT OF THE MATTER--A BAND OF MARAUDERS.
+
+"Have you practised your profession in this country for very long?"
+asked Nick of their visitor, as they sat over their supper an hour or
+two later in the evening.
+
+The latter smiled.  "Yes," he answered, "for nearly fifteen years.  But
+are you sure you know what my profession is?"
+
+"Are you not a doctor?" rejoined his questioner.
+
+"Well, I suppose I may call myself a doctor," was the reply, "but a
+physician of the soul, not of the body--though, as you have seen, I have
+picked up a little knowledge of body-curing too, in the course of my
+travels."
+
+"A missionary!" exclaimed Warley.  "I am so glad.  I have been so hoping
+that we might fall in with one.  But we were told that there had never
+been more than a very few in Southern Africa, and even they had now left
+it."
+
+"I am sorry to say you heard no more than the truth," said the stranger.
+"But I trust there is a better prospect now."
+
+"I am glad to hear it," observed Lavie.  "I guessed what your employment
+was, and was afraid you might be in trouble, if not in danger.  When I
+left Cape Town two years ago--"
+
+"Ah, you have resided in Cape Town.  Then you will know something of
+what our trials and discouragements have been.  But no one but the
+missionaries themselves can really enter into them."
+
+"I wish you would give us your experiences," said Lavie.  "As you say,
+in the colony there is a very confused and imperfect knowledge of your
+proceedings: and there is, besides, so large an amount of prejudice on
+the subject, that even those most favourably inclined towards you, have
+heard, I doubt not, a most unfair version of it."
+
+Warley eagerly seconded this proposal, and the stranger, who seemed
+willing enough to comply with their wishes, began his recital.
+
+"I should tell you first," he said, "what perhaps you have guessed--that
+I am, by descent, half English and half Dutch.  Our family name was
+Blandford, and we were owners of large property in one of the southern
+counties; but it was forfeited in consequence of our determined
+adherence to the house of Stuart.  After the unfortunate issue of the
+attempt in 1745, we were obliged to leave England, and took up our
+residence in Holland; where my father married the daughter of a Dutch
+merchant, named De Walden, whose name he thenceforth adopted.
+
+"As the hopes of the restoration of the exiled family grew ever less and
+less, my father entered with more interest into his father-in-law's
+business.  The latter carried on a brisk trade with the Cape of Good
+Hope, and thither I was sent, when barely twenty-one, as one of the
+junior partners in the house.  I resided for many years at Stellenbosch,
+occasionally passing months together at Klyberg, a large farm in the
+north of the colony, not far from the Gariep, or the Orange river, as it
+has since been named."
+
+"Not very far from where we are now, in fact," observed Lavie.
+
+"It was nearer to the west coast than this," said De Walden, "by some
+hundreds of miles, and the country was very fertile.  Both at
+Stellenbosch and Klyberg we employed a great number of Hottentots as
+slaves.  Our treatment of them I shall remember with shame and grief to
+the last day of my life!"  He paused from emotion.  And Lavie said--
+
+"You were not different, I suppose, in your treatment of them from your
+neighbours?"
+
+"Unhappily, no.  But that is small comfort.  It seems wonderful to me
+now, with my present feelings, how I could have accepted without
+questioning, as I did, the opinions of those about me on the subject.
+We entertained the notion that the natives were an inferior race to
+ourselves, intended by Providence to be kept in a condition of
+servitude, as the sheep and oxen were; to be kindly treated if they were
+docile and industrious; to be subdued and punished if refractory."
+
+"That is, of course, a perverted view," said the doctor, "but still no
+one, who has seen much of these races, can doubt their inferiority, or
+the necessity of their being instructed and kept in control by the
+whites."
+
+"Granted," said the missionary.  "The whites had, in fact, a mission of
+love and mercy entrusted to them.  They ought to have taught the
+natives, and raised them gradually to a level with themselves.  But we
+never taught or raised them.  On the contrary, our persistent
+determination was to keep them down.  We dreaded their acquiring
+knowledge; and looked with jealousy and dislike upon some earnest and
+devoted men, who had come from Europe for the purpose of enlightening
+them."
+
+"Did you come across George Schmidt, sir?" inquired Warley, with an
+eagerness of manner which attracted De Walden's attention.  "I have read
+about him, and have been anxious to meet some one who knew him."
+
+"Yes," said De Walden, "to my shame, I did.  One of the first things I
+remember, after my arrival at Klyberg, was an outburst of anger because
+the good and holy man you name had baptised one of his converts.  You
+may well look surprised, but so it was.  By the law of the Cape, no
+baptised person could be a slave; so that the baptism of a Hottentot had
+the effect of manumitting him.  Of course the law was a mistake, and
+ought to have been altered.  A slave, as Saint Paul has emphatically
+taught us, may be as true a Christian as his master.  But the Dutch had
+no thought of altering the law, and were resolved rather to keep their
+slaves in heathen darkness than lose their services."
+
+"That is much what I read," said Warley; "and Schmidt was obliged to
+leave the colony, was he not?"
+
+"He was, and never returned to it, though he earnestly longed and prayed
+that he might.  His prayer was heard after his death, and his spirit
+returned in the faithful band of servants, who were raised up to carry
+on his work.  I never saw _George_ Schmidt while in Africa.  I had no
+wish to do so.  His name was a by-word of reproach on my lips.  But
+afterwards, while I was in Holland, during a three years' absence from
+the colony, I did encounter him."
+
+The speaker paused for a few minutes, and then resumed.  "I shall never
+forget our meeting.  I was passing through one of the towns on the
+Rhine, when I saw a notice that George Schmidt would deliver a discourse
+about South African Missions, and endeavour to raise funds for carrying
+them on.  I determined to go to the meeting, expose the falsehood and
+calumnies which I should be sure to hear, and raise such a tumult as
+would put a stop to him and his doings.  I went and I heard him.  What
+we read in the Bible of men forsaking all and following Christ--which
+had always seemed so difficult to be believed--came home to me in all
+its vividness.  I was carried away by his simple eloquence.  I was
+humbled, conscience-stricken, filled suddenly and for ever with a new
+purpose in life.  I went to him as soon as the meeting was over, told
+him who I was, and asked his forgiveness for what I and mine had done to
+thwart and grieve him."
+
+"And he welcomed you kindly, doubtless?" said Lavie.
+
+"Yes, like himself I remained in Holland, and used every means in my
+power to obtain the leave to renew his mission, which he was seeking
+from the Government.  My family remonstrated against the course I was
+pursuing, and finding that I was not to be moved, renounced all
+connection with me.  I cared little for that; but the failure of my
+applications to the authorities distressed me much more than it did
+Schmidt; who closed his eyes, in extreme old age, fully assured that the
+prayer of his life would soon be granted."
+
+"And it was, was it not?" asked Warley.
+
+"Yes.  In 1792 we obtained the long-desired permission.  I was one of
+those who accompanied Marsveld and his colleagues to South Africa.  I
+well remember the day when we visited Bavian's kloof, which had been the
+scene of George Schmidt's labours, broken off nearly fifty years before.
+There were the remains of the school he had built, and the cottage in
+which he had dwelt--all in ruins, but sacred in our eyes as the homes in
+which we had been born.  There was the pear tree which he had planted,
+now a strong and lofty tree.  Above all, there were the remains of the
+flock he brought into the Redeemer's fold--one or two aged servants of
+Christ whom he had instructed in the faith, and who had retained the
+memory of his lessons through fifty years of darkness!"
+
+"The Dutch did not interfere with you any further, did they, sir?" asked
+Ernest.
+
+"Not as they had done before, but they discouraged us indirectly in
+every possible way.  They would never suffer us to build a church, in
+which to carry on our worship; and it was not until the English took
+possession of the Cape that we were able to do so."
+
+"You were not interfered with during the time of the English occupation,
+I believe," said Lavie.
+
+"No, if anything, helped and encouraged.  When the colony was restored
+to the Dutch three years ago, another attempt was made to turn us out of
+the colony.  But English rule had produced its effect on public opinion,
+and nothing open was attempted.  The system pursued by the Dutch farmers
+was, nevertheless, so obstructive, that I thought it better to give up
+my mission to the Hottentots, and betake myself to a different part of
+the colony, where I have been living for the last two years."
+
+"And where are you going now?" asked Warley.
+
+"Back to the Hottentots.  The English Government will protect me,
+doubtless, as it did before, and I shall have every reasonable hope of
+succeeding."
+
+"The English Government!" repeated Nick, hastily.  "Have the English
+retaken the colony!"
+
+De Walden looked at him with surprise.  "Do you not know," he said,
+"that on the 10th of January last, Cape Town was surrendered to the
+English?  By this time, I should imagine, the whole of the Dutch troops
+have left the colony."
+
+"No," said Lavie, "we did not know it, though we are not much surprised
+to hear it.  When we left England, there was some talk of sending out an
+expedition to recover the Cape.  But the Government kept their
+intentions very secret.  The Hottentots, among whom we have been living
+for several weeks, had heard of the approach of a British fleet, but
+knew nothing as to the issue of the expedition.  So the Dutch have lost
+the colony again, have they?"
+
+"Yes," said the missionary; "and they will never regain it.  The trust
+has been reposed in their hands for many generations, and they have
+betrayed it, and the colony is handed over to another people.  For their
+own sakes, may they fulfil it better!"
+
+"You are right," said Lavie; "as the New World was given to Spain, and
+when Spain abused the gift, it was taken from her; so have the Dutch
+received, and so have they forfeited, their South African dominions."
+
+"You speak well," said De Walden.  "The parallel you suggest is very
+much to the purpose.  One's blood boils when one reads of the
+barbarities practised on the defenceless Indians by Cortez and his
+fellows; on the monstrous violations of justice, mercy, and good faith
+which Pizarro displayed in his dealings with the simple-hearted
+Peruvians.  But neither Cortez nor Pizarro ever perpetrated more unjust
+or inhuman deeds, than have the Dutch boors during the century and a
+half of their possession."
+
+The doctor shook his head as he heard this assertion.  "That is strong
+language, Mr De Walden," he said.  "I go along with you in nearly all
+that you have said, but not that.  You refer, I suppose, to the commando
+system?"
+
+"Mainly to that, but not entirely."
+
+"Very well.  I speak under correction, but I understand the commando
+system to be this.  When property is continually and persistently stolen
+by the Hottentots and Bushmen, and no peaceable measures can secure its
+restoration, the whites in the neighbourhood are summoned to assist at
+an armed attempt at its recovery.  They march into the domains of the
+robbers, seize the cattle or other property which has been plundered, or
+an equivalent, punish the robbers, according to the amount of the
+offence, and then return home.  Is that a correct statement?"
+
+"Theoretically, very fairly correct."
+
+"Well, where is the injustice?  Those who will recognise no law but
+force, must take their first lesson under that law.  A savage has to
+learn that he must respect the rights and feelings of others.  That is
+the foundation of all social order.  Until he has learned it, you cannot
+civilise him."
+
+"Granted.  But the means you take are not the right ones.  In the first
+place, who gave the Dutch settlers the right to the land or the cattle?
+They found the Hottentot and Bushman in possession.  What equivalent did
+they give them for their land?  They were savages, you will say, and
+could not appreciate its value.  True, but the Dutchmen could.  Did they
+not take advantage of the ignorance of the aboriginals to gain
+possession, on ridiculously cheap terms, of their property.  If so, the
+rights of which you speak are founded on fraud and extortion, and are,
+in fact, no rights at all, but simply wrongs."
+
+"Do you mean that there can be no dealings at all between civilised
+races and savages?"
+
+"By no means.  If the civilised trader is an honest man, he will
+appraise the land at its true value, and hold it in trust for the
+vendor."
+
+"How hold it in trust?"
+
+"He will remember that he cannot pay the fair purchase-money down, and
+therefore hold it for the seller, till he can pay it.  He will remember,
+that the seller was supported off the land previously to its sale, and
+ought to be supported still by it, or its proceeds, or the bargain
+cannot have been a fair one.  He will therefore supply the natives with
+food, if in need; will help them to live; will feel bound to furnish the
+means of instructing them; will show infinite forbearance, until they
+are instructed.  He will be sensible that he cannot wash his hands clear
+of them as he might, in a civilised country, of men, who had sold him
+land at market price."
+
+"And what, if such forbearance produced no other result than increased
+lawlessness and treachery?"
+
+"You have, first, to show that it would produce it.  And you would have
+some difficulty in doing that.  When that mode of dealing with
+aboriginals has been fairly tried and has failed, then you may ask your
+question.  But when has it ever been tried?  I have striven to impress
+the truths of the Gospel on the Hottentots and the Bushmen, and I have
+failed; but why?  Not because they could not understand the Gospel, or
+because they hated it; but because those who professed it did not
+themselves act up to it--did not, in fact, themselves really believe it.
+Look you here.  A tribe of Bushmen have been in the habit of ranging
+over a large tract of country, and killing game, wherever they could,
+for their support.  They regarded that as their natural right; and who
+shall say it was not?  Well, some persons, of whom they have never
+heard, make some bargain with some of their neighbours or
+fellow-countrymen, and they find themselves suddenly deprived of the
+rights which they and their fathers have enjoyed from immemorial time.
+They traverse their old hunting-grounds and kill the first cattle they
+fall in with, as they have been ever wont to do; and for so doing, their
+villages are attacked by night, their huts burnt, their property
+destroyed, themselves, their wives and children, enslaved or murdered!
+Whatever sense of natural justice they may possess, must be outraged by
+such acts."
+
+"I think I see.  The natives have a right to be taught and cared for, in
+return for their possessions."
+
+"Yes.  And if this is not done, the settlers have no justification for
+possessing themselves of their land at all.  By settling in the country,
+they make themselves the fellow-citizens of the aboriginals, and are
+bound to treat them as such.  If they cannot fulfil the duties of
+citizens towards them, rather let them give up their lands and quit the
+country, than provoke God by high-handed violence and injustice.  The
+policy of continually driving the heathen further and further away, is
+only one degree less detestable than exterminating them at once."
+
+"And you think the natives could be converted to Christianity, if your
+programme were followed?  I have heard men doubt it, whose reputation
+for wisdom stands high."
+
+"I dare say.  But what is man's opinion worth in such a matter?  Has not
+God made mankind all of one blood?  Did not Christ die for all?  Are we
+to believe that He did not understand His own work?  We must do so, if
+we believe that there is any nation on the face of the earth, which
+could not accept the Gospel But it is growing late.  I will visit my
+patient once more before lying down to rest.  He may want another dose,
+but I hardly think it."
+
+They repaired accordingly to Wilmore's bed, and were glad to find him in
+a calm deep sleep, which they did not disturb.  The fire was then
+replenished, and Warley having undertaken to keep watch during the first
+part of the night, the others lay down under the shadow of the palm
+trees and were soon sound asleep.
+
+Ernest sat over the fire, with his rifle in his hand, buried in deep
+thought.  Always of a grave turn of mind, the events of the last few
+weeks had made him a man before his time.  His life during that time had
+been one of continual peril, and three times at least he had had the
+narrowest possible escape from a dreadful death.  He felt--as all men of
+any strength of character always do feel under such circumstances--that
+his life had been preserved for some high and worthy purpose, and the
+conversation of the stranger missionary had impressed the same truth
+more forcibly upon him.  He had always had an inclination for the life
+of a clergyman; its only objection in his eyes being the dull routine of
+commonplace duties; which, however worthy in themselves, did not satisfy
+his longing for enterprise and action But in Mr De Walden's career, all
+that he thirsted after seemed to be realised.  He felt that if the
+latter would consent to take him as a helper in the work he had now in
+hand, he should prefer it to any other lot that life could offer him.
+But then there was the difficulty about money.  He must have some means
+of living, and the life of a missionary in Africa would not supply any,
+not even the barest necessaries.  Mr De Walden, it was evident, did
+possess some private income; but it might not be enough to support two;
+and even if it should be, he could hardly ask him, a total stranger, to
+bestow it on him.  There was his brother, who might allow him just
+enough to start him in business.  So at least he had intimated.  But it
+was unlikely that he would give him a farthing if he turned missionary--
+a calling especially odious in the eyes of the residents at Cape Town at
+that time.  Besides, Ernest had always felt the greatest repugnance to
+taking Hubert's money.  No, he feared he must give it up--for the
+present at all events.  He must take the Indian clerkship, which Lavie
+had told him he thought he could get for him.  He might save money, and
+then later in life perhaps--
+
+As he sat brooding over these thoughts with his arm resting on some pine
+boughs which he had gathered, he was startled by seeing a dark object
+crawling out of a bush at no great distance.  It passed across the
+pathway, and was hidden in the scrub on the other side before he had
+time to look fixedly at it.  It occurred to him at once, that it might
+be one of the large black snakes which infest that country, and whose
+bite was said to be extremely dangerous.  He paused a moment in doubt.
+He could still distinguish the black mass in the shrub though very
+imperfectly.  Should he fire at it and take the chance of killing or
+crippling it.  Well, he might miss, and if so, there would be a shot
+thrown away; Frank would certainly be woke up, and it was most important
+for him to get a sound night's rest.  At all events he would see the
+object, whatever it might be, by a clearer light before firing.  He
+cocked his gun and rested it against his knee.  Then taking a handful of
+dry fir leaves, he threw them on the fire which had sunk somewhat low.
+A bright blaze sprung up, and showed in strong relief the stems of the
+palms and the thickets of scrub around them.  But the black mass on
+which his eye was fixed was hidden by the shadow of a large tree, and he
+could not determine with any certainty its outline, before the blaze had
+sank again.  Presently he felt something creep stealthily past him, and
+Lion stirred uneasily in his sleep.  He seized another and a larger heap
+of pine leaves; but before he could throw it on the fire, he felt his
+gun seized in a gentle, but firm, grasp by the muzzle, and gradually
+drawn away from him.  Before he could recover from his surprise, the
+lock caught against a tuft of weed and exploded.  The report was
+followed by a yell of rage and pain, and at the same moment Lion sprang
+forward.  All the party, except Frank, were instantly on their legs, and
+De Walden, with ready presence of mind, caught up a pine bough and
+thrust it among the embers.  It soon burst out into a flame and showed a
+dark-skinned savage extended on the ground, a second struggling in the
+grip of Lion, while several more were hurrying away in all directions.
+
+"Those Kaffirs have tracked me, after all," he muttered.  "I thought I
+had got rid of them, but it is next to impossible to do so.  Well, let
+us see whether they are much hurt."
+
+Lavie and Warley had by this time obliged Lion to relax his hold, and it
+was found that the man he had seized had only sustained a few slight
+injuries from the dog's teeth.  The other was bleeding from a gun-shot
+wound, but that too was not dangerous.
+
+"They are neither of them really hurt," said Lavie; "but we must
+question them to-morrow, and meanwhile take care they don't escape."  He
+took some strong leathern thongs, which De Walden handed him from his
+wallet, and with these dexterously tied their hands and legs.  Then
+desiring Lion to watch them, he lay down again and was soon fast asleep.
+Warley followed his example, but the other two kept watch till sunrise.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+KAFFIR INCREDULITY--THE GREAT KALAHARI--A PRIZE--AN EXCITING CHASE--THE
+KAFFIR GAME-TRAP--A NATURAL BRIDGE--AN AFRICAN FLOOD.
+
+Daylight broke at last, and the two watchers were rejoiced to perceive
+that their prisoners, though evidently recovered from any injuries which
+they might have sustained, still remained in the same place, indeed in
+the same attitude as on the previous night.  This, however, appeared to
+be mainly due to Lion's vigilance, the latter still keeping the most
+jealous watch over them, breaking out into an angry growl, and showing a
+formidable broadside of teeth, whenever either of them moved hand or
+foot.  As soon as the morning meal was over, De Walden untied the thongs
+by which they had been secured, and taking them apart, addressed a long
+and seemingly an angry remonstrance to them.  They replied submissively,
+and appeared to be entreating pardon, which he was reluctant to grant.
+At length the conference came to an end.  With a low inflection of their
+bodies, they turned away, and pursued the path up the kloof, never
+turning their heads to look back, till they had vanished from sight.
+
+Mr De Walden now rejoined his companions.  "In what direction is it
+your purpose to proceed?" he inquired.
+
+"We were about to ask your advice," said Lavie.  "We have turned out of
+our direct way to avoid being followed by the Hottentots among whom we
+have been living for several weeks, and now want to make our way as
+quickly as we can to Cape Town."
+
+"I will accompany you there," said the missionary, "if it be agreeable
+to you.  Until last night it was my intention to travel into the country
+you have just quitted, and resume my old mission work, which I left
+three years ago.  But, singularly enough, I am now in the same strait as
+yourself.  I have been living for the last year or two in the Bechuana
+country; and the idea has latterly taken possession of one of the Kaffir
+chiefs, named Chuma, that I have the power of controlling the elements,
+and driving away disease at pleasure."
+
+"It is not an uncommon one, is it?" asked Lavie.
+
+"It is common enough for impostors among the Kaffirs themselves, to
+pretend to such power, and they gain a certain amount of credence from
+their countrymen," answered De Walden; "but they do not often fancy that
+Europeans are so gifted.  The fame of a very simple cure of a Bechuana
+child, which was suffering from croup, and the circumstance that a
+seasonable rain, after long drought fell, while I was residing in the
+Bechuana village, are, I believe, the only grounds for the notion.  But
+Chuma was so possessed with it, that he has repeatedly made me the most
+splendid offers, if I will take up my abode in his kraal."
+
+"I wonder you did not accept it," remarked Lavie.
+
+"You think it would have been an opening for teaching them better
+things, I suppose.  But that would not have been so.  I could only have
+gone as a professed wizard or prophet--under false colours, in fact.
+And the moment I threw any doubt on the reality of my pretensions, they
+would have turned on me as an impostor, and justly too.  No, I told
+Chuma that I would come to him as the servant of the God who sent the
+rain and the sunshine, if he would have me.  But that He alone could
+command these, and I had no power over them, any more than Chuma himself
+had."
+
+"And he?" pursued Lavie.
+
+"He did not believe me, and once or twice tried to seize me, and compel
+me to comply with his wishes.  I was very glad when the news of the
+reoccupation of the Cape by the British, offered an opening for my
+return to Namaqua-land.  I thought I had managed my departure so well,
+that they would not discover it for many days.  But I was mistaken.
+Chuma sent those men yesterday with peremptory orders to seize and
+convey me to his village."
+
+"And you are going to change your route, in consequence?" said Lavie.
+
+"Yes; I do not believe Chuma will abandon his purpose even now.  I shall
+proceed to Cape Town and thence obtain a passage to Walfisch Bay.  In
+that way I shall baffle the chief, but probably in no other.  If you
+think Frank--that is his name, I believe--if you think him fit to
+travel, we had better set off for the Gariep as soon as possible.  Chuma
+will be sure to send out a fresh company, as soon as these have returned
+to him."
+
+"Frank is nearly well in my opinion," said Lavie.  "The poison seems to
+have been driven out by the profuse perspiration.  He is a little weak;
+but with an occasional rest, and an arm to lean on, he can go a
+tolerable day's journey, I have no doubt."
+
+"Let us set off, then, as soon as possible.  We have a long and very
+dreary tract to traverse before we reach the Gariep--three hundred miles
+and more, I should think.  It will probably take us at least three weeks
+to accomplish it, even if your young friend quite recovers his
+strength."
+
+"But you are well acquainted with the way?"
+
+"Yes, indeed.  I have traversed it often enough."
+
+"We are fortunate to have fallen in with you.  I will go and arrange
+everything for starting."
+
+They were soon on their way, Frank stepping bravely along, and declaring
+that the motion and the morning air had driven out whatever megrims the
+euphorbia water might have left behind.  They soon came into a different
+character of country from that which they had recently been traversing.
+Hitherto they had been moving to and fro on the skirts of the great
+Kalahari; they were now about to pass through its central solitudes.  As
+they advanced, the groups of trees and shrubs grew scantier, and at
+length almost wholly disappeared.  Interminable flats of sand, varied
+only by heaps of stone scattered about in the wildest disorder,
+succeeded each other as far as the eye could reach.  For miles together
+there was no sign of animal or vegetable life--not the cry of an insect,
+not the track of a beast, not the pinion of a bird.  The red light of
+daybreak, the hot and loaded vapours of noontide, the gorgeous hues of
+sunset, the moon and stars hanging like globes of fire in the dark
+purple of the sky, succeeded each other with wearying monotony.  There
+was no difference between day and day.  They depended for their
+subsistence almost entirely on the roots, which De Walden knew where to
+search for, and which relieved the parched lips and burning throat as
+nothing else could have done.  Their resting-place at mid-day, and at
+night alike, was either the shadow cast by some huge stone, or a natural
+hollow in its side, or more rarely a patch of scrub and grass, growing
+round some spring, either visible or underground.  The cool sunset
+breeze every evening restored something of vigour to their exhausted
+frames, and enabled them to toil onward for another, and yet another,
+day.
+
+After nearly three weeks of this travel, they found the landscape begin
+once more to change.  The kameel-doorn and the euphorbia again made
+their appearance, at first in a few comparatively shaded spots; then the
+aloe and the mimosa began to mingle with them; and in the course of a
+day's journey afterwards, birds chirped among the boughs, the secretary
+was seen stalking over the plain, and the frequent spoor of wild animals
+showed that they had again reached the world of living beings.
+
+Their guide now told them that they were within two days' journey or so
+of the Gariep; which he proposed to pass at some point immediately below
+one of the great cataracts.  The river at this spot ran always, he said,
+with a rapidity which rendered it almost impossible to ford; but at the
+times when it was at the lowest, after long drought, as was the case
+now, it might be crossed by climbing along trunks of trees which had
+been lodged among the rocks and left there by the subsiding waters of a
+flood.  This required nothing of the traveller beyond a steady foot and
+a cool head.  Where there were several to help one another, the risk was
+reduced almost to zero.
+
+The party woke up gladly enough on the morning of the last day of their
+desert travel.  The country was now thickly covered with wood.
+Immediately before them was a plain very curiously dotted with patches
+of thorns, growing at regular intervals about fifty paces apart from one
+another, enclosing a large tract of ground with a kind of rude fence.
+Nick was so struck with its singular appearance, that he stopped behind
+his companions to examine it more closely.  While thus engaged, his
+attention was attracted by a grunting noise in the bush near him, and
+peering cautiously through the bushes, saw what he supposed to be a
+large black hog, unwieldy from its fat, lying in a bed of thick grass.
+Here was a discovery!  The party had not tasted the flesh of animals for
+weeks past, and had not tasted pork since they left the _Hooghly_.  He
+shouted as loud as he could, to attract the attention of Lavie and the
+others.  Failing to do this, he discharged his gun at the hog, intending
+at once to kill the animal and induce his fellow-travellers to return.
+He waited for some minutes, but without hearing anything but a distant
+halloo.  Resolving not to lose so valuable a booty, he took the
+creature, heavy as it was, on his shoulders and set out, as fast as he
+could walk, under the burden, in the direction which they had gone.
+
+He staggered along until he had cleared the thicket, and was moving on
+towards the thorn patches, when he heard a voice at some distance
+shouting to him.  He looked up and saw Lavie running towards him at his
+utmost speed.  Presently the voice came again.
+
+"Drop that, and run for your life.  There's a rhinoceros chasing you."
+
+Nick did drop his load, as if it had been red hot iron, and glanced
+instinctively round.  On the edge of the thicket which he had quitted, a
+large black rhinoceros was just breaking cover, snorting with fury, and
+evidently making straight for him.  Nick's gun was empty, and even if it
+had been loaded, he would hardly have ventured to risk his life on the
+accuracy of his aim.  He threw the gun away, and took to his heels, as
+he had never done since he left Dr Staines's school.  He was swift of
+foot, and had perhaps a hundred yards start.  But the rhinoceros is one
+of the fleetest quadrupeds in existence.  Notwithstanding the lad's most
+desperate exertions, it continued to gain rapidly on him.  Nick felt
+that his only chance was to get within gun-shot of his companions, when
+a fortunate bullet might arrest the course of his enemy.  He tore
+blindly along, until he found himself within twenty yards of the thorn
+bushes, which had so excited his curiosity shortly before.  The next
+minute he felt himself passing between two of the bushes, the rhinoceros
+scarcely thrice its own length behind him, its head bent down, and its
+long horn ready to impale him.
+
+He gave himself over for lost, and only continued to dash along from the
+instinct of deadly terror.  As he rushed between the bushes, he suddenly
+felt the earth shake and give way under him.  Staggering forward a few
+paces, he fell flat on his face, tearing up the ground from the force of
+the fall.  At the same moment a tremendous crash was heard behind him,
+followed a minute afterwards by a dull heavy shock.  Nick sprung up
+again, notwithstanding the cuts and bruises he had received, and glanced
+hastily round him, expecting to see his terrible antagonist close on his
+flank.  But, to his amazement, the creature had disappeared!  There was
+the open space between the thorn bushes, through which he had just
+passed, and there was the long grass through which he had rushed, but
+where was the fierce pursuer, who was scarcely four yards behind him?
+
+While he was gazing round him in a maze of alarm and wonder, he heard
+Lavie's voice close to him.  "You may be thankful for the narrowest
+escape I ever remember to have witnessed!" he said.
+
+"Where, where is the rhinoceros?" stammered Nick.
+
+"Down at the bottom of that pit, into which you would have tumbled
+yourself, if you hadn't been running like a lamplighter.  I'll just see
+if the poor brute is alive or not, and if he is, put a charge through
+his brain."
+
+He peered cautiously down the hole, but all was still there.  The animal
+had been impaled on the strong stake always placed at the bottoms of
+such traps, and it had probably penetrated the vitals.  Satisfied on
+this point, he returned to Gilbert, who had now somewhat recovered his
+self-possession.
+
+"Why didn't you run when we first called to you?"
+
+"I didn't know you were calling to me.  What made the brute attack me?"
+
+"I don't know.  The black rhinoceroses very often attack men without any
+apparent reason, though the white seldom do so.  But what were you
+carrying on your back?"
+
+"A black hog, which I had shot--famous eating, you know.  We had better
+go and fetch it now.  It will last us--"
+
+"A hog!" exclaimed De Walden, who with Warley and Wilmore had now joined
+them.  "I don't fancy there are any wild hogs about here; I never heard
+of any.  Is this what you call a hog?" he continued, a minute or two
+afterwards, when they had reached the place where Nick had thrown his
+load down.  "Why this is a young rhinoceros--about a week old, I should
+say!  There is very little mystery now in the mother having charged
+after you.  Well, you may indeed thank God for your escape!  I would not
+have given a penny for your life under such circumstances.  However, as
+we have the animal, we had better take as much of its flesh as we can
+carry.  It is very excellent eating."
+
+"I should like to examine the pitfall, sir, if you have no objection,"
+said Warley.  "I have never seen one, though I have often heard of
+them."
+
+"I'll cut up the carcass, Mr De Walden," said Lavie, "if you like to go
+with the lads."
+
+The missionary consented, and taking the three boys with him, pointed
+out to them the ingenious construction of the trap, which had been the
+means of preserving Nick's life.  He showed them, that the whole
+enclosure which had excited Gilbert's wonder, was one network of pits.
+The thorn bushes were everywhere trained to grow so thick and close,
+that it was impossible to penetrate them; and in the centre of each of
+the open spaces between them a deep excavation was made, the top of
+which was skilfully concealed by slight boughs laid over it, and covered
+with tufts of long grass and reeds.  At times, he said, the hunters
+would assemble in a large body, and drive the game in from every side,
+towards the enclosure.  The frightened animals made for the entrances,
+and great numbers were thus captured in the pits.  Even those which had
+passed safely through the openings, became easy victims to the arrows
+and assegais of the pursuers, being, in fact, too much alarmed to
+attempt to escape from their prison.
+
+Before they had completed their examination of the ground, Lavie was
+ready to accompany them.  Setting out without further delay, they
+reached an hour before sunset the banks of the Gariep.  Wearied as they
+were with one of the longest day's journeys which they had accomplished,
+neither Lavie nor Warley could rest till they had taken a full view of
+the magnificent scene which broke upon them, when, after threading the
+dense thickets and tortuous watercourses which border the great river,
+they came at last on the main stream itself.  The vast mass of water--
+which had been narrowed in, for a considerable distance by lofty cliffs
+on either side, to a channel hardly more than thirty yards in width--
+shot downwards over a rocky shelf in an abrupt descent of fully four
+hundred feet in height.  On either side, the crags, partly bare and
+rugged, partly clothed with overhanging woods of the richest green;
+above, the tall mountains rising into broken peaks; and below, the
+boiling abyss--formed a frame, which was worthy of this splendid
+picture.  The beams of the setting sun pouring full on the cascade, and
+producing a brilliant rainbow which spanned the entire width from side
+to side, together with the ceaseless thunder of the falling waters,
+seemed alike to entrance and overpower the senses of the beholder.  It
+was not until they had stood for more than an hour gazing at this
+glorious spectacle, that either of the travellers could tear themselves
+from the spot, to seek the rest which overwearied nature demanded.
+
+On the following morning they were awakened by De Walden at an earlier
+hour than usual.  "We must lose no time," he said, "in crossing the
+river.  It is not so high as I expected to find it, and at the point for
+which we must make, we can get over without much difficulty.  But it is
+on one of the channels which just now are almost dry, that I fear we may
+encounter difficulty.  The sky looked threatening last night, and if it
+had not been too late I should have attempted the passage.  It looks
+worse this morning.  I am half afraid there must be rain further up the
+country; and if such be the case, the river may suddenly rise so
+rapidly, that it will be next to impossible to escape it.  We have not a
+moment to lose."
+
+They hurried on under his directions, Lion following, and in an hour's
+time had reached a narrow part of the stream, which was there further
+diminished by an island in mid-channel.  The latter was steep and
+narrow, having evidently been worn away by the action of successive
+ages, until scarcely more than ten feet of it remained.  Against the
+craggy peaks into which it rose, several massive trees had lodged during
+some former flood, and had been left by the subsiding waters at a height
+of eight or ten feet above their present level.  They formed a kind of
+rude bridge, which might be safely traversed by any one whose nerves
+were firm enough to attempt the feat.
+
+Calling to Lavie to follow him, De Walden laid down his rifle and
+climbed up the mossy roots of one of the largest of these wrecks of the
+forest, till he had reached the first fork of the branches.  Here he
+stopped, and waited till Lavie was within six feet or so of him, when he
+signed him to stop also.  Warley followed, and then Frank, and lastly
+Nick; each taking up his station a few feet off from his nearest
+companion.  Nick then passed along the various articles from hand to
+hand, until they reached De Walden, who secured them by thongs to the
+upper branch of the fork, and then climbed on till he had reached the
+island, when the same process was repeated.
+
+In this manner, in about an hour's time, they passed safely over the
+central stream, and began descending the bank on the other side, passing
+without difficulty two or three of the narrower channels.  But their
+progress through the tangled underwood, which in some places had to be
+cut with the axe before it would yield a passage, was necessarily slow,
+and it was past noon before they came to the edge of the last and
+broadest of the tributary channels--a stream too wide and deep to be
+forded, even if there had not been fear that the overhanging banks
+contained holes in which crocodiles might lurk.  "We must fell a tree,"
+said the missionary.  "We shan't get across in any other way.  One of
+the longest of these pines will answer our purpose, if it is dropped in
+the right place; but we must go to work without delay, for I fear before
+nightfall there will be rain.  It seldom gives long notice of its coming
+in this country, and when it does fall, it falls in a perfect deluge.
+It is lucky we have the axe, or we must have gone back to the other bank
+again.  Hand it to me, Ernest.  I think I can contrive to drop this fir
+exactly into the fork of that large projecting yellow-wood there."
+
+He took the axe as he spoke, and went to work with a will, the others
+relieving him at intervals, and labouring under his directions.  But the
+edge of the instrument had unfortunately become blunt from use, and made
+its way but slowly into the tough wood.  It was nearly three hours
+before the task was accomplished, and the long trunk dropped skilfully
+into the hollow of the tree opposite.
+
+"Now then, we must not lose a minute," said De Walden.  "We are
+fortunate that the rain has held off so long, but it must come soon."
+He mounted the trunk as he spoke and crawled along it, observing the
+same precautions as before.  They had just reached the further end, when
+suddenly there came--from a considerable distance it seemed--a dull
+hollow roar, accompanied by a rush of chilling wind.
+
+"Quick, quick," he cried; "the flood is close at hand.  If it catches us
+here, we are lost.  Climb the tree.  It is our only hope."  He sprang on
+the nearest branch as he spoke, and mounted up from bough to bough,
+until he had reached an elevation of twenty or thirty feet above the
+surface of the stream.  The others followed his example, as well as they
+were able, catching at the limbs of the great yellow-wood tree which
+chanced to be nearest to them, and scrambling from point to point with
+the agility which deadly peril inspires.  Nick, who was the hindmost of
+the party, had not mounted more than fifteen or twenty feet, before they
+all beheld, not a hundred yards off, a vast cataract of water rolling
+down the river gorge, sweeping from side to side, as it advanced, and
+converting the whole valley into a roaring torrent.  Their temporary
+bridge was swept away and snapped in pieces like a reed, and for a
+moment De Walden feared that even the great yellow-wood in which they
+had found refuge, might experience a like fate.  It stood firm, however,
+and the missionary was able to assure his companions that, as the flood
+was not likely to rise higher, they were in comparative safety.  But
+they would have to pass the night, and possibly the next day, in their
+present position, as it would be madness to attempt breasting the flood,
+until its fury had spent itself.  They had fortunately taken their
+morning meal on the further bank, and each had some remains of it in his
+wallet But it was a dreary prospect at best, and if the rain should
+again fall there would be the greatest danger lest the cold and
+weariness should so benumb their limbs, that they would be unable to
+retain their hold on the branches.
+
+"What has become of Lion?"  Nick managed to ask of Wilmore, who was
+niched near him, in a hollow formed by the junction of three boughs in
+one of the largest limbs of the yellow-wood.  "I haven't seen him since
+we got on the tree."
+
+"Poor old boy," returned Frank, "he was swept down the stream, when the
+fir was carried away.  I tried to catch him by the collar, but couldn't.
+The last thing I saw of him was his black head in the midst of the
+boiling waters.  I think I would sooner have been drowned myself!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+STRANGE COMPANY--CAPTURED AGAIN--THE KAFFIR VILLAGE--CHUMA OBDURATE--
+LAVIE'S MISSION--THE WIZARD--A BOND OF FELLOWSHIP.
+
+It was a long and terrible night.  The heaven was covered with vast
+masses of inky clouds, which the gale drove rapidly before it; and
+occasionally there were sharp bursts of rain, from which even the dense
+foliage of the tree in which they were lodged but imperfectly screened
+them.  The howling of the wind round them, and the roaring of the
+torrent below, rendered all attempts to converse with one another
+impossible.  They could only cling to their place of refuge, and count
+the weary minutes as they passed, gazing anxiously on the eastern sky in
+the hope of seeing there the first faint streaks of dawn.
+
+A little after midnight the fury of the elements seemed to have reached
+its height, and now a new danger threatened them.  The huge tree rocked
+to and fro under the gusts of wind, as though it had been a bulrush, and
+every now and then a loud crack from below, intimated that one of the
+strong roots had yielded to its violence.  At length, after one blast,
+more fierce than any which had preceded it, the last fibre gave way.  De
+Walden felt the great trunk bend slowly forward, and settle down in the
+water; and almost immediately afterwards it was carried down the
+current, whirling and crashing against other trees as it went, with a
+force which nearly shook its occupants from their hold.  Fortunately
+they had taken their stations on a branch which still remained above the
+water when the tree was uprooted; but it was nevertheless only by the
+most desperate exertion of the little strength which still remained to
+them, that they could save themselves from dropping, exhausted and
+benumbed, into the watery abyss beneath.
+
+At length the dawn began to glimmer, and showed that the tree, which had
+become entangled with a number of others, had reached a point in the
+river where it could proceed no further.  The vast floating _debris_ had
+lodged against lofty rocks, which projected some distance into the
+stream, and thus an insuperable obstacle was offered to its farther
+progress.  As the light grew stronger, it revealed a spectacle so
+extraordinary, and at the same time so frightful, that De Walden, with
+all his long and varied experience, could not recall the like of it.
+Numberless animals had taken refuge, as he and his party had done, in
+the boughs of trees, or had been carried against them by the torrent.
+The confused mass of trunks and branches was now crowded with the most
+strangely assorted occupants that had ever been brought together since
+the day of the great deluge; their natural instincts being, for the
+time, completely overpowered by terror.  The lion and the eland crouched
+close beside one another; the steinbok and the ocelot clung to the same
+limb; the hyena and the sheep, the tiger and zebra, jostled each other,
+all alike apparently unaware of the presence of their neighbours.  More
+deadly enemies still were close at hand unheeded.  Huge pythons, puff
+adders, cobras, ondaras, black snakes, were twisted round every
+projecting bough, darting their heads to and fro, and protruding their
+tongues in the extremity of alarm.  Even the huge bulk of the rhinoceros
+might be discerned here and there, lodged on the bole of some giant
+acacia or baobab; while above, the smaller boughs were tenanted by
+multitudes of monkeys, for once omitting their customary scream and
+chatter in the presence of mortal peril.
+
+De Walden perceived that it would be possible for the party now to make
+their way from tree to tree, until the right hand bank should be
+reached.  That to the left, which was the one along which their journey
+now lay, being cut off from them by impassable obstacles.  But they must
+get on shore first, and again attempt the passage of the river
+afterwards.  He shouted to the others, and at length succeeded in
+rousing them from the torpor, which for some time had been creeping over
+them.  Guided by him, they crawled stiffly and wearily from their
+resting-places, along one trunk after another, often almost pushing
+aside beasts of prey, which it would have been death to approach at
+other times, but which now shrank away from them in deadly fear--until
+at last the river's bank was attained.  Here they struggled on for a
+short distance, through the dense underwood of thorn and reed, until
+they had reached a patch of long grass; when all, with one consent as it
+were, threw themselves on the soft couch, and were soon locked in the
+profoundest sleep.
+
+How long they might have slept it is impossible to say.  They were
+awakened about the middle of the day by finding themselves in the hands
+of a number of black men, who had already despoiled them of their
+accoutrements, and were engaged in tying their arms behind their backs
+with rheims of rhinoceros hide.  They sat up and stared about them,
+hardly realising at first what had happened.
+
+"Hallo, blacky," exclaimed Nick, when he had at length taken in the
+situation, "what may you happen to be about?  Do you know, these legs
+and arms, that you are handling after that free-and-easy fashion, belong
+to me?  Why, I declare," he continued, as he caught a clearer view of
+the man who was employed in tying him, "I declare that is one of the
+fellows whom you let off one fine morning about three weeks ago, Mr De
+Walden!  One blacky is generally as like another as an egg is to an egg,
+but I think I could swear to that fellow's nose and eyebrows.  Ain't I
+right, sir?"
+
+"Quite right, I am sorry to say, Nick," replied De Walden.  "I am more
+vexed than surprised at this.  I knew these fellows would not return to
+Chuma without us if they could help it, and half feared they might be
+following us.  But if we had got safe across the Gariep, they would have
+come no further.  It can't be helped, Lavie," addressing the surgeon,
+who seemed inclined to remonstrate.  "I would ask them to let you go,
+and take me only with them, and it is possible, though not likely, that
+they would consent But they would certainly seize your guns and
+ammunition, and without these, and without a guide, you would hardly
+reach Cape Town.  No, we must go to Chuma's kraal now, and try what may
+be done with him.  I don't think he will venture to hurt us--anyhow, he
+won't hurt you.  There is the annoyance of the detention, but that will
+be all."
+
+"I have no doubt you are right," said Lavie.  "They have taken us by
+surprise; and without arms we could do nothing against their superior
+numbers.  The less we say or do the better, until we reach their
+village.  Is it far off, do you suppose?"
+
+"I can't quite tell where we are.  But I should think five or six days'
+journey.  Well, since you agree with me in the matter, I will tell them
+we are ready to start."
+
+The Kaffir, who seemed the chief of the party, received this intimation
+with evident satisfaction.  It was plain that, although he was
+determined, if he could, to take the missionary with him, and considered
+that the presence of the rest of the party would be acceptable to the
+chief, he was more than half afraid of the Englishmen, and would have
+been very unwilling to employ force.  He gave orders to his companions
+to set out without loss of time, and in another quarter of an hour they
+were on their way.  Kamo, as the leader was called, walked first, and
+carried De Walden's rifle, the prisoners, all five together, following,
+and the rest of the blacks, seven in number, occupying their flank and
+rear.
+
+De Walden's calculations proved to be very nearly correct.  On the
+evening of the sixth day, the travellers could perceive from the
+demeanour of their conductors, that they were approaching their
+destination.  A halt was made about an hour before sunset, and two of
+the Kaffirs set forward, carrying the rifles and other articles taken
+from the English.  In rather more than half an hour afterwards they
+returned, accompanied by a considerable number of their countrymen,
+carrying clubs, bows, and assegais, and evidently designed as a guard of
+honour.  They formed themselves into a sort of procession, five Kaffirs
+in front with clubs and shields; then the whites in Indian file, with
+two blacks on either side of each one of them, and the remainder of the
+savages bringing up the rear.
+
+In this order, about a quarter of an hour subsequently, they entered the
+Kaffir kraal; which was in some respects very like, but in others
+different from, that of the Hottentots.  The huts were not built in the
+same regular order, as in the instance of the latter, and they were
+entirely composed of wicker-work besmeared with clay.  Small too as had
+been the amount of cleanliness and order observable among the
+Hottentots, there was even less here.  On the other hand, there were
+tokens of superior civilisation to be discerned on every side.  There
+were large fields of Indian corn (or mealies as they were called), which
+were carefully fenced in, and now nearly ripe for harvest.  There were
+gardens, too, in which pumpkins and sugar-canes grew.  Before almost
+every door stood wicker baskets, earthenware pans, and iron or copper
+bowls and pails--all evidently of domestic manufacture.  One of the
+largest huts seemed to be that of the village smith, and he and his
+assistant were at work, engaged in hammering an axe head.
+
+The men were much darker, as well as of a taller and more powerful
+build, than the Namaquas.  The weather being warm, they wore scarcely
+any clothing, and the stalwart muscular frames and well-formed features
+of many among them, might have served a sculptor as models of the Lybian
+Hercules.  The women were not equal, either in symmetry of form or
+regularity of feature, to the males--the consequence, probably, of the
+severe and incessant toil required of them.  They wore, for the most
+part, a skin petticoat descending half-way down the thigh, to which in
+colder weather they added a mantle of hide, secured by a collar round
+the throat.  It was growing dusk when the party entered the kraal; but
+the chief, Chuma, came forth to greet De Walden, for whom it was plain
+that he entertained a strange mixture of fear, admiration, and dislike.
+He began by reproaching the missionary for his thanklessness in
+rejecting his repeated invitations.  Anxious as he was to bestow all
+manner of honours and good gifts on the prophet of the white men, it was
+ungrateful of him to withhold his good offices in return.  "See," he
+said, "the best house the kraal contains is yours, if you choose to
+occupy it; or if that suits you not, we will build you a house after
+your own fancy.  As many cows and sheep as you may desire, as many
+fields of corn, as many fruit trees as you name, shall be given you.  We
+will be your servants, and you may choose what wives you will.  They
+will be sent to your house without payment.  Only, in return, do not
+suffer our cattle to die of murrain, or our crops wither up for lack of
+rain.  What injury have we done you, that you refuse us your aid in our
+necessity?"
+
+"It is in vain that I tell you I cannot do what you ask of me," returned
+De Walden.  "Again and again I have assured you, that I am as unable to
+prevent the visitations of disease and drought as you yourselves are.
+The God, of whom I have spoken to you, and about whom you will not hear,
+He, and He only, can accomplish the things you ask.  If you wish to
+obtain the blessings of which you speak, bow down before Him, and ask
+Him for them."
+
+"If I so bow down, will the prophet of the white men assure me, that I
+shall receive what I entreat for?"
+
+"No," replied the missionary, "I can give you no such assurance.  God
+hears prayer always, and is well pleased with those who offer it with a
+true heart; but He does not always grant what men ask for.  It may not
+be good for them to receive it."
+
+"What good, then, to pray, if there be no favourable answer?" rejoined
+the chief, a cloud gathering on his brow.  "You ask me to commit folly.
+You trifle with me.  You have brought down rain for others, and driven
+away the disease that slew the cattle for others.  Look, you shall live
+here in the village, and we will kill you, if you attempt to escape.  If
+the rain does not come in its season, you shall bring it.  If the cattle
+die of pestilence you shall cause it to depart, or you shall yourself
+suffer pain and hunger and death.  As for these others, are they
+prophets and wizards too?"
+
+"They are simply English travellers, on their way to Cape Town," said De
+Walden, "and their friends are persons of importance there.  You have
+heard of the English?"
+
+"The English," said Chuma.  "Ah, the English.  Yes, I have heard of
+them.  They came over the great salt water, years ago, and fought with
+the Dutch--did they not?"
+
+"They did.  They fought with the Dutch and conquered them.  You know
+well that the Dutch are dangerous enemies to meet in battle.  None of
+the races whose skins are dark--the Bechuanas, the Basutos, the Zulus,
+the Namaquas--none of them can stand before the Dutch--"
+
+"They have the fire-tubes," interposed the chief angrily,--"the
+fire-tubes which strike men dead from a great distance like the
+lightning, and no one can avoid it.  They wear iron coats, and caps,
+which turn aside the arrows and the assegais.  They ride on horses too,
+which are taught to fight like themselves.  It is not equal.  Let them
+lay aside their coats and their tubes, and fight on foot like our
+warriors, with clubs and assegais, and see who will conquer then."
+
+"You know they are not likely to do that," returned the missionary; "but
+that is nothing to the present matter.  I wish to show you that if you
+cannot stand before the Dutch, much less would you be able to face the
+English, who are braver warriors, and better acquainted with war, than
+even the Dutch."
+
+"Ah, but the English have gone away," rejoined Chuma.  "You try to
+deceive me, but you cannot.  The Dutch rule over the country again now.
+The White Queen, who is a great magician, sent messengers to the English
+chief not many months ago.  But they came back and told her he was gone.
+I know that, for Kama was in the Basuto kraal when they returned, and
+heard their tale.  She, I say, was a great magician, and they could not
+have deceived her, even if they dared speak falsely."
+
+"They did not speak falsely," said De Walden.  "The English went away
+three or four years ago, and have stayed in their own land until now.
+But not many weeks ago they came back over the salt water, and have
+again conquered the Dutch, and are masters of the land."
+
+"Ah, the English again masters!  We will not quarrel with the English.
+We have seen them fight.  But how do I know that they have come back?
+How do I know that these persons are English, or that they have great
+friends there?"
+
+"You have my word," returned the other.
+
+"Ah, but you deceive me in some matters, and may in others.  I must have
+proof of what you tell me before I let them go.  But see here.  Will
+they give me their fire-tubes and their black powder as their ransom?
+Then they may depart."
+
+"They cannot do so," said the missionary.  "If you deprive them of their
+guide and their weapons, how can they find their way so many hundred
+miles, and how provide themselves with food by the way?  You must let
+them take their guns; and, if you are resolved on compelling me to
+remain here, you must furnish them with a guide.  By him they will send
+you back any ransom you may agree on."
+
+"And when they get near the dwelling of their friends, they will send
+their guide away empty-handed, or it may be they will kill him, and I
+shall hear no more of him or them either.  It is not good.  No, I will
+not quarrel with the English.  But they live far off.  They will know
+nothing of these men where they are, or what may have become of them.
+If I keep them prisoners, or if I put them to death"--the eyes of the
+savage emitted a fierce light as he spoke--"if I put them to death," he
+repeated slowly, "who will tell the English of it?"
+
+"It will certainly be discovered," said De Walden.  "It is known that
+they have landed on the sea-coast at no great distance from here, and
+that they are wandering about in these regions.  One of them is the son
+of a great sea warrior; the others are his friends and companions.  The
+great Chief of the English will send out soldiers to search for them.
+He will learn from many whither they have been taken; and if harm has
+been done them, he will exact heavy punishment."
+
+Chuma shook his head, but he evidently was much moved by the
+missionary's words.  He conferred apart with some of his counsellors,
+and an animated debate, to all appearance, ensued.  At length he turned
+away from them, and again addressed De Walden.
+
+"See," he said, "this is the way of it.  One of the whites, whomsoever
+they may choose, goes alone to the great village of the whites, and Kama
+goes with him as guide; but the white man leaves the fire-tube here
+behind him, which he will not need, for Kama finds food on the way.  The
+others--they too stay behind here in the village till Kama returns, and
+tells me what he has seen and heard--does this please you?"
+
+"I will report to them what you have said," returned De Walden, "and
+bring you their answer."
+
+He stepped up to the place where the four travellers were resting
+themselves on a heap of skins, and reported to them Chuma's proposal.
+"On the whole," he added, "I should advise you to accept it.  I know how
+suspicious these Bechuanas are.  Never practising anything like truthful
+and fair dealing themselves, they are incapable of believing that any
+one else can do so.  If you refuse, your refusal will be imputed to some
+sinister designs which you are secretly cherishing; and Chuma is fully
+capable of relieving himself from all immediate anxiety by putting the
+whole party to death."
+
+"I quite see that," said Lavie.  "The only alternative is attempting to
+escape, and the chances are greatly against our succeeding in that.  In
+any case," he mentally added, "such a step would bring ruin and death on
+you.  No," he resumed, "we must certainly close with Chuma's offer.  The
+only question is, which of us is to be the one to go."
+
+"You must not choose me," said Gilbert.  "I should only make a mess of
+it."
+
+"I would go," said Frank, "but I do not think I am strong enough yet to
+attempt such a journey."
+
+"And I would rather not leave Mr De Walden," added Warley.  "You had
+better go yourself, Charles.  You are in every way better fitted to
+manage the business."
+
+"I should not object," said Lavie, "but I do not like to leave you in
+the hands of these treacherous savages."
+
+"You leave us under Mr De Walden's care," rejoined Warley, "and I, for
+one, can fully trust to that."
+
+After some further discussion, it was so arranged.  Chuma was informed
+that his terms were accepted; and on the following day the doctor,
+having taken an affectionate farewell of his young companions, set out
+for Cape Town with Kama and another Bechuana for his guides; while the
+others prepared themselves to endure, as patiently as they could, the
+long weeks of waiting which must inevitably ensue.
+
+"Are these Kaffirs utterly without the idea of God, as people say they
+are?" asked Ernest one day of Mr De Walden, about a week after their
+friends, departure.  "I was talking one day to a gentleman on board the
+_Hooghly_, who seemed to be well acquainted with them, and he declared
+that they had positively no religion at all.  But another gentleman
+differed from him, and was going on, I believe, to produce some proofs
+to the contrary, but the conversation was broken off.  I should like to
+know what you would say on the subject."
+
+"They have no _religion_ in the proper sense of the word," answered the
+elder man.  "No sense of connection, that is to say, with a Being
+infinitely powerful and good, who made and sustains them, and to whom
+they are accountable.  It is this that constitutes a religion, and of
+this they know nothing.  But they are extremely _superstitious_.  They
+believe in the existence of Evil Spirits, who have alike the power and
+the will to afflict and torment them.  To these they attribute every
+disaster or suffering which may befall them."
+
+"A creed of fear, in fact, without love," suggested Ernest.
+
+"Precisely.  They have no idea of pleasing the Unseen Powers by duty and
+affection, but are keenly alive to the necessity of propitiating them by
+continual sacrifices.  They believe also, that it is possible to obtain
+from their Evil Spirits the power of benefiting or afflicting others;
+and those who are presumed to be in possession of these powers are held
+in as great--practically in greater--reverence than the Spirits
+themselves."
+
+"These persons are, of course, impostors."
+
+"In the main, yes.  But there are some who are half impostors and half
+fanatics--really thinking they possess some of the gifts attributed to
+them, though how much, they themselves hardly know.  This is the common
+case with false prophets.  Their heaviest punishment ever is, that they
+partially credit their own lie."
+
+"And this chief, Chuma, supposes you to be one of these prophets?"
+
+"He does, and nothing I can say will disabuse his mind of the idea.  It
+is not uncommon with these pretenders, to appear to deny the possession
+of supernatural powers, until they have obtained their price from the
+chiefs!  Chuma will not be persuaded that my disclaimers have no deeper
+meaning than this.  And I have given up the point in despair."
+
+"Are there any of these pretended prophets among the tribe?"
+
+"There is one--a man named Maomo.  He was once in great favour with
+Chuma; but a long drought, some two years ago, which he failed to
+relieve, forfeited his prestige in the chief's eyes.  He has been
+labouring for a long time past to regain his power; and he regards me, I
+know, with especial dislike, because he views me as the chief obstacle
+to the attainment of his wishes."
+
+"He is not likely, I suppose, to succeed in his design.  The chief seems
+to regard you with the deepest awe, if not affection."
+
+"Ernest," said the missionary, "that is all delusive.  His awe of me is
+founded on an unreal basis, which _will_ some day, and _may_ any day,
+crumble into nothing.  And the moment Chuma ceases to fear me, his hate
+will burst out in all its deadly fury.  Maomo has already (as I know
+quite well) so far worked upon the chief's prejudices, that he views me
+as an enemy, though one whom it is not safe to attack.  He has persuaded
+him that the Spirits are angry at my attempts to draw away his people
+from their ancient belief, and the consequence, he has assured him, will
+be some heavy visitation of disease, or famine, or drought.  Chuma has,
+in consequence, positively forbidden me to attempt to make any converts,
+or even offer prayers to our God, under penalty of his heaviest
+displeasure.  This very day he has told me so."
+
+"And you, sir?" asked Ernest, anxiously.
+
+"I, Ernest," answered the missionary, somewhat reproachfully, "I told
+him, of course, that I should obey God rather than him, and strive to
+bring any soul among his people to the knowledge of Christ.  I left him
+somewhat subdued, as determined language always subdues him; but the
+moment any trouble befalls him, I know well what what will follow."
+
+"Let me help you," said Ernest, deeply moved.
+
+"Give me some of your work to do.  I will do it to the best of my
+power."
+
+"Notwithstanding the consequences?" asked De Walden.
+
+"Notwithstanding the consequences," answered Warley resolutely.  And the
+two shook hands with a warmth neither had before felt towards the other.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+MISSION TALK--IMPENDING DANGERS--AN UNEXPECTED FRIEND--KOBO'S STORY--
+MAOMO'S DESIGNS--DE WALDEN'S RESOLVE--A NIGHT EXPEDITION.
+
+Time passed on: the summer heats gradually gave way to the cooler
+temperature of autumn, and that too began to pass into winter, and
+nothing had been heard of Lavie or his guide.  It had been calculated
+that it would take them fully two months to reach Cape Town; but there
+they would be able to obtain horses, which would so greatly shorten the
+return journey, that ten or eleven weeks might be regarded as the
+probable period of their entire absence.  But March was exchanged for
+April, April for May; June succeeded May, and July, June; and still
+there came no tidings of the travellers.  The boys grew anxious, and
+might have become seriously alarmed, if it had not been that they found
+so much to interest and employ them, that they had no time for indulging
+morbid fancies.
+
+All the four whites occupied one large hut, some five and twenty feet in
+circumference, and provided with mats, karosses, and all the other
+furniture of a Kaffir dwelling-house, so as to render it a very
+comfortable residence.  They also took all their meals together, which
+were provided at the cost of the whole tribe, and prepared for them by
+Kobo and Gaike, the two attendants chosen for them by Chuma.  But before
+many weeks had passed, they had separated, by common consent, into two
+pairs; De Walden and Ernest being almost continually together, and Frank
+and Nick Gilbert taking up with one another, as a matter of necessity.
+
+Warley was deeply impressed by the character of the new friend he had
+found.  De Walden's devoted self-surrender, his resolute and
+uncomplaining spirit under the most trying hardships, his cheerfulness,
+and even joyousness, while enduring what would have broken most men's
+spirits altogether, were the very ideal of which Ernest had dreamed, but
+never expected to realise.
+
+"Did you make many converts among the Hottentots?" he asked one day.  "I
+remember hearing you say your mission, as a whole, had not succeeded;
+but I suppose you made converts here and there?"
+
+"I cannot say I ever made one."
+
+"Not one!  And yet you were going back to them again!"
+
+"Certainly.  Why not?"
+
+"Rather, `Why?'  I should have been inclined to ask."
+
+"Why? because God has commanded that the Gospel should be preached to
+all nations, and that command stands good, whether they will hear, or
+whether they forbear.  It is our business to do His work, and His to
+look after the result."
+
+"And you would not consider that a man's life was wasted, if he passed
+his whole life as a missionary, without making one convert?"
+
+"No more wasted than if he had made ten thousand.  Look here, Ernest.
+You have never seen a coral island, I suppose?"
+
+"No," said Warley; "I have read about them, but I have never seen one."
+
+"You have read about them?  Then you know that the coral insects labour
+on, generation after generation, under the water, raising the reef
+always higher and higher, till it reaches the high-tide level at last."
+
+"Yes, that is what I have read, certainly."
+
+"For generations, then, upon generations, the work of the insect was
+wholly out of human sight.  Ernest, was their work in vain?  Did not
+they help to build up the island as much as those whose labours could be
+clearly discerned?"
+
+"You are right," said Warley.  "One soweth, and another reapeth."
+
+"Yes, and both will rejoice hereafter together; claiming, under God, the
+work between them.  The work of the missionary--of the early
+missionary--may seem to man's eyes as nothing, but it is merely out of
+man's sight.  He is building up Christ's kingdom, as the coral insect,
+far down below, builds up the reef; and will, unknown though he be now,
+have equal honour hereafter with those whom the world now accounts its
+greatest benefactors."
+
+Many such conversations as these were held between the two friends--as,
+notwithstanding the disparity of their years, De Walden and Ernest might
+be called--and every day the bond between them grew stronger.  Together
+they visited the Kaffir huts, and held long talks with the occupants;
+who were never unwilling to discourse on the subject nearest to De
+Walden's heart, little as they might be inclined to hearken to his
+teaching.  He was, however, not without hope that he had succeeded in
+making some impression.  More than one man resorted secretly to him to
+ask explanations of difficulties, which, it was plain, had been weighing
+on their minds; more than one woman attended the prayers, which were
+daily offered to the God of the Christians in the white man's hut, in
+spite of Chuma's interdict Maomo heard of it, and it roused still more
+fiercely his jealousy and alarm.  He was, as has already been intimated,
+partly a deceiver, and partly a dupe.  He knew that many of his
+pretensions were simply impostures; but he did believe in the existence
+of Evil Spirits, and their power to injure men.  Such doctrines as those
+propounded by De Walden, must needs, he thought, be in the highest
+degree distasteful to them; and they would visit the land with the most
+terrible plagues, if the people fell away from the faith of their
+fathers.
+
+He continually beset Chuma, therefore, with entreaties to put down the
+evil, before it reached any greater height.  He reminded the chief that
+he had already forbidden De Walden, or the "White Lie-maker," as he was
+wont to call him, to teach the people his new and dangerous creed.  His
+commands had been openly disobeyed, and he must now enforce severe
+penalties against him, or suffer the most terrible consequences himself.
+Chuma listened, but made evasive replies.  His own mind was in a state
+of doubt on the subject.  He was incensed by the Englishman's obstinate
+refusals to comply with his orders, and had begun to doubt whether he
+really did possess the presumed supernatural powers.  If that should
+indeed be the case, he would make short work with him.  At present,
+however, he was not convinced that this was the case, and he had
+resolved to defer any action until his mind was made up.
+
+Meanwhile Frank and Nick went out almost every day with their guns,
+under the tutelage of Kobo, a middle-aged, strongly built Bechuana, into
+whose charge Chuma had consigned them.  The missionary was jealously
+watched, not only by the chief's servants, but by those of Maomo also.
+He was never allowed to leave his hut, unless accompanied by at least
+one man, and never to leave the village at all, except by the chief's
+express permission, and under the escort of three armed men.  But the
+boys were not so carefully looked after.  Chuma contented himself with
+warning Kobo, that if at any time they were not forthcoming, he would
+have to pay the penalty with his own life.  The boys knew this as well
+as Kobo, and promised him that they would make no attempt at escape,
+even if a favourable opportunity should offer; and the Bechuana, strange
+to say, seemed quite contented with their assurance.  He went out with
+them into the bush, sometimes to a considerable distance, allowing them
+to take their firearms, and carrying no weapon himself, but a light
+hatchet, which would have been of no service to him at all, in event of
+any hostile movement on their part, nor did he ever seem to entertain a
+suspicion that could mean treachery towards him.
+
+"He's a good fellow, this blacky," remarked Nick one day, as they halted
+under the shade of a large oomahaama, to rest an hour or two before
+returning home from one of their shooting excursions.  "He's a good
+fellow, not suspicious of every word one says, or of the meaning of
+every act one does.  He really has some notion of honesty.  More's the
+wonder!"
+
+"Yes," answered Frank; "I should like to ask him where he got it from,
+only I suppose he wouldn't understand one."
+
+"Oh yes, Kobo would--understand very well," said Kobo, joining in the
+lads' conversation, in broken, but very intelligible English.
+
+"Hallo, hey, what!" exclaimed both the boys, half starting up with
+surprise.  "What! you understand English, Kobo?" added Frank.  "How in
+the world did you learn it?"
+
+"And why in the world didn't you tell us long ago that you understood
+it?" subjoined Gilbert.
+
+"Kobo keep it secret--chief not know--prophet not know," answered Kobo.
+"Kobo tell white boys, not black man."
+
+"Do tell us, then, Kobo," said Nick, whose interest had been keenly
+awakened.  "You may trust us to keep whatever we may hear to ourselves,
+if you desire it."
+
+Kobo assented readily enough.  It was plain that he was anxious, for
+some reason of his own, that they should learn his history, and had been
+awaiting his opportunity of telling it.  We shall not follow the broken
+English of his narrative, but relate it in our own words.
+
+Kobo had been born and reared in the Bechuana village where he was still
+living; but when a lad of twelve or thirteen years old, had incurred the
+chief's displeasure for some boyish offence, and to escape the
+punishment incurred by it, fled from the kraal and took refuge in a
+village lying at a considerable distance from his own people.  He had
+not been there many months, when the village in which he was living was
+attacked by a commando, and with the usual consequences.  All the males
+who had reached puberty and the elder women, were shot or cut down; the
+girls and children carried off into bondage.
+
+Kobo's fate had at first been very doubtful.  He was just on the very
+verge of what was considered manhood, and the sword of more than one
+Dutchman was raised to cut him down.  But he was, luckily for himself,
+rather short of stature, and it was ultimately resolved that he should
+be spared.  He was taken to the southern part of the colony, and became
+the slave of a Dutch farmer residing near Oudtshoorn.  Here he remained
+for several years, until he had quite grown to manhood.  According to
+his own statement, which it would be reasonable to receive with some
+degree of caution, he was treated with the utmost injustice and cruelty
+by his masters--ill-fed, overworked, and kicked and cuffed without any
+reason, whenever his employers chanced to be out of temper.
+
+But there was no remedy for his wrongs.  It was in vain to appeal to the
+law, which would hardly entertain his complaint at all, and would have
+done nothing to protect him, even if he could have made out his case.
+To have offered resistance would have been the extremity of folly, as it
+would only have brought down increased suffering upon him; and to have
+attempted escape, would have been almost certain death.  It was a long
+distance to the border of the Bechuana country; and the fierce
+bloodhounds kept by the whites would have overtaken and torn him to
+pieces, before he could have gone the twentieth part of the way.  There
+was nothing for it but to bear it patiently.
+
+It chanced that there was a man residing in Oudtshoorn, who was of
+European, but not Dutch, descent.  He was believed to be an Englishman,
+who for some unknown reason had chosen to leave his own country.  He
+took some notice of Kobo, whose appearance and manner pleased him; and
+gradually the Bechuana confided to him his history, the cruel hardships
+he endured, and the anxious longing which possessed him to regain his
+freedom.  Andrews, as the Englishman was called, listened attentively to
+his story, and then advised him to wait patiently for a few weeks more,
+when an opportunity he desired might present itself.  Andrews was a
+secret agent of the English Government, and knew that an army and fleet
+were soon going to be sent out to attempt the seizure of the Dutch
+colony.  If this should prove successful, he would be able to help Kobo
+effectually.  The Bechuana followed his advice; and one evening, towards
+the end of December, received an unexpected visit from his English
+friend, who was mounted on a strong Cape horse, and led another by the
+bridle.
+
+"Mount, Kobo," he said, "and ride with me.  Your master is too much
+frightened by the news he has just received to think about you; and even
+if he did try to catch you, he couldn't."
+
+Kobo obeyed willingly enough.  They rode through the whole of that
+night, and next morning arrived at a place where fresh horses had been
+provided.  Continuing their ride with hardly an hour's delay, they
+reached Simon's Bay, where an English fleet had just come to anchor.
+Andrew's first step was to have Kobo regularly rated as his servant.
+When the campaign was ended by the cession of the colony, they returned
+to Oudtshoorn; where Kobo's former master was still residing, but he
+stood too much in awe of Andrews to claim his fugitive slave again.
+Kobo, who had become greatly attached to his English master, continued
+for several years in his service, until in 1803 the colony was handed
+back to the Dutch.  When it became certain that the English Government
+would take this step, Andrews advised Kobo to leave Oudtshoorn before
+the departure of the English troops.  Van Ryk, his former master, had
+always looked upon him as his lawful property, of which he had been
+violently despoiled, and would inevitably claim him as soon as the Dutch
+power was again established.  Kobo's affection for Andrews would have
+induced him to remain and brave the hazard of this; but the Englishman
+pointed out that he would not have the power of protecting him against
+Van Ryk's claim, or against any cruel usage to which he would probably
+subject him, and this would be worse pain to both than their separation.
+Kobo accordingly was conveyed by Andrews as far as the Gariep, where
+they took leave of one another, the Englishman returning to Oudtshoorn,
+and Kobo rejoining his tribe.
+
+The latter, however, had kept the true history of his past life a
+profound secret from his countrymen, passing off a plausible tale of
+life among the Bushmen in its place.  He was afraid that Van Ryk would
+offer the Bechuana chief a large sum for his tradition, and he knew
+Chuma's avaricious spirit too well to believe that he would refuse it.
+When he heard from De Walden of the reoccupation of the Cape by the
+English, he was instantly seized with an anxious desire to return to
+Oudtshoorn, and would have offered himself to Lavie as his guide, if it
+had not been that he dared not betray his knowledge of the English
+language.  He would, however, in all likelihood, soon have left the
+Bechuana village alone, if he had not conceived a liking for the English
+prisoners, and a desire to serve them in the danger which, as he could
+plainly see, was threatening them.  He was well acquainted with Maomo's
+cruel and vindictive nature.  Several persons, towards whom the wizard
+had conceived a hatred, had suffered the most terrible tortures and
+death through his machinations, and towards no one had he ever felt such
+bitter enmity as towards De Walden.
+
+This feeling had been increased by the failure of his schemes, thus far,
+to work the missionary's ruin.  He had been hoping that the drought,
+which often visited the country during the summer months, would give him
+the desired opportunity of either obliging De Walden to comply with
+Chuma's entreaties to bring down rain by his incantations, or of
+provoking the chief's wrath to the uttermost by his refusal.  But the
+summer, to his infinite vexation, had been extraordinarily cool and
+genial, showers falling at short intervals of one another; and causing
+abundance of grass and water.  What was worse, he could see that Chuma
+attributed this exceptional season to De Walden's residence in the
+village.  He was farther than ever therefore from accomplishing his
+object.
+
+But he was not a man to be balked of his purpose; and Kobo, who had
+watched him narrowly, felt certain that he had some scheme on foot which
+would achieve the object on which his heart was set.  He had been absent
+for two or three days in the previous week, and when he returned there
+was a look of triumphant malice in his face, which he tried in vain to
+hide.  The only well-grounded hope they could have of escaping his
+malicious designs lay in immediate flight.  Chuma, as yet, was
+favourably disposed, and had taken no steps which would render flight
+impossible.  But this would not last long; and De Walden must take time
+by the forelock, or it would certainly be too late.
+
+Such was the substance of what Kobo imparted to the boys, and which they
+made a point of laying before Mr De Walden immediately after his return
+to their village.
+
+The missionary listened attentively, and asked several questions as to
+Kobo's sources of information, and the details of the plan of escape he
+had suggested; but when these had been answered he refused to avail
+himself of the offer.
+
+"I have little doubt," he said, "that Kobo in the main is right, if not
+in every particular, but it is my duty to remain here, and remain I
+must, whatever may ensue.  For the first time since my arrival in
+Africa, I have a real, well-grounded hope of gaining a considerable body
+of converts to our faith.  What will these think of me?  What hope can I
+have of their remaining true to the creed they have half adopted, if I
+myself am wanting to it?  I am in God's hands, and I trust all to Him.
+But you, my dear lads--it is not _your_ duty to stay here, and encounter
+this danger.  You, indeed, Ernest--"
+
+"Do you think _I_ could leave you?" interposed Warley reproachfully.
+
+"I will not ask you to do so," answered the missionary, clasping
+Ernest's hands as he spoke; "but you two--"
+
+"We too will not leave you," broke in Frank.  "I know I speak for Nick
+as well as myself.  We will all stay and endure whatever may chance
+together.  I will tell Kobo so forthwith."
+
+He sought out the Bechuana accordingly, and acquainted him with the
+resolution to which all the party had come, adding however, that they
+would all keep Kobo's secret most inviolably, and if any occasion should
+arrive when his services might be required for an attempt of the kind
+suggested by him, they would at once apply to him to help them.
+
+"Meanwhile," he said, "Kobo, let us have plenty to employ our time and
+thoughts.  It will never do for us to sit down and brood over our
+troubles; we should go mad, I expect.  Look here, didn't you tell us
+that the spoor of some elephants had been seen yesterday or this
+morning, at a short distance from this?"
+
+"Great many elephant in bush," said Kobo; "six, seven, big bulls, twenty
+cows, not three miles away.  Not go away to-day, perhaps not to-morrow."
+
+"Do you hear that, Nick?" said Wilmore.  "We had better set out the
+first thing in the morning, hadn't we, and try to get a shot at one?"
+
+"White boys see them to-night, if they like," said Kobo.  "See here.
+Kobo love white boys because they English.  He wait here till they ready
+to run away.  Then he run with them.  Meanwhile they shoot, hunt, fish.
+Chuma not suspect they mean to run."
+
+"All right, Kobo," said Nick.  "You're a brick, if you know what that
+means, though you have been baked pretty black in the kiln.  Well, let
+us set off at once.  Where do you propose that we should pass the
+night?"
+
+"Bavian's Pool, Master Nick; three miles from here--beautiful pool,
+sweet water, steep rock overhang it, too steep for beasts to climb, not
+too steep for us.  There we sleep among bushes; animals come down to
+drink by moonlight; buffalo, gnu, zebra, giraffe, lion, rhinoceros, all
+sorts of beasts--elephant come too--"
+
+"And we can shoot at them from the rock, hey?" interposed Nick.
+
+"No, not shoot from rock.  Elephant not come near enough, and light bad;
+but we track them when they leave waterside, and get good shot in
+morning."
+
+"All right, Kobo.  How soon ought we to set out?"
+
+"Three hours past noon, now.  Get to pool at five.  We start in an hour,
+say."
+
+"In an hour; very good.  Let us go and say good-bye to Mr De Walden and
+Ernest, Frank, and get the guns."
+
+"Done with you," said Frank.  "Shall we ask Ernest to come with us?  We
+have had very little of his company for a long time past, and I think he
+would enjoy this.  You know how anxious he always was to come upon a
+herd of elephants, all the time when we were travelling through the
+country where they are said sometimes to be found.  He is a good fellow,
+and I don't like to lose sight of him so entirely."
+
+"I agree with you, that he is a good fellow," said Nick,--"a deal better
+fellow, for the matter of that, than I am.  But I am afraid there is not
+much chance of his making one of our party.  There has been a change in
+him ever since that escape of his from the big snake; and since he has
+fallen in with Mr De Walden, he has been so taken up with him that he
+can think of nothing else.  But we can ask him, certainly."
+
+But on reaching the hut they perceived at once that it would be no use
+to make any such suggestion--for the present, at all events.  The two
+friends were on the point of repairing to the house of one of their
+converts, who had sent to them a message, entreating their immediate
+presence.  One of the calamities, which the Bechuanas dreaded beyond all
+others, had just befallen him.  It had been known for some time past,
+that a disease, nearly resembling that which has visited European
+countries of late years, was raging among the herds belonging to
+neighbouring tribes, and more particularly the Basutos.  It was regarded
+with the utmost terror by all the races inhabiting Southern Africa, whom
+it deprived not only of all their wealth, but of their very means of
+subsistence.  They were wholly unacquainted with any means of dealing
+effectually with it; indeed, for the most part, they attributed it
+entirely to the agency of malignant Spirits; and its appearance
+generally threw them entirely into the hands of the pretended prophets.
+In the present instance they had felt tolerably secure that it would not
+visit the Bechuana village, the summer having been exceptionally
+healthy.  But that morning, two oxen had suddenly been seized with the
+symptoms which were only too well-known.  The owner, who had unbounded
+faith in the missionary's powers, had sent at once to him entreating his
+help; and he and Warley were just setting out to render what assistance
+it might be possible to give.
+
+"Poor beggars!" exclaimed Nick.  "It will be a bad job for them if they
+do lose their cattle, seeing that is pretty well all they have.  Shall
+you be able to do anything for them, sir?"
+
+"I am afraid very little," said the elder man.  "I have fallen in with
+the disease more than once during my residence in this country, and have
+hardly ever known a case of cure, when it has once fairly taken hold of
+an animal But we will do our best.  Good night, lads I hope you may have
+a pleasant day's sport.  If it hadn't been for this, I should have liked
+Ernest to have gone with you.  As it is, I shall want his help."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+BAVIAN'S POOL--PLACE AUX ROI--GIANT BATHERS--AN ELEPHANT HUNT--THE
+"NICK" OF TIME--NICK'S OVATION--DE WALDEN ARRESTED.
+
+It took Kobo and the two lads a good hour to reach Bavian's Pool.  It
+lay in a different direction from any which they had yet pursued,
+through dense bush, in which they would soon have lost themselves, if it
+had not been for Kobo's attendance.  Occasionally they came on the spoor
+of the elephants, a large herd of which had evidently passed that way
+not many hours previously.  The gigantic footprints were traced sharp
+and clear in the sandy soil; the young trees, that had been broken off
+or trodden down by their bulky frames, exhibited fresh white fractures;
+those which had only been bent by the weight of the animals in passing,
+seemed hardly yet to have regained their former positions.  Kobo, who
+spoke under his breath in awe, as it seemed, of these forest kings, told
+them that the herd, in all likelihood, were reposing at the distance of
+not more than a quarter of a mile from the path they were now
+traversing.  This intelligence appearing to excite the lads a good deal.
+He added, that they must not attempt to get a sight of them now, or
+they would certainly spoil their pleasure that evening, and probably
+prevent the elephant hunt, which was to take place the next day.  The
+whole tribe, he said, was going out in the morning, and it was hoped
+that a good many animals would be killed; and as there were several very
+fine males among them, a large prize in the way of ivory was
+anticipated.  But if the herd should be disturbed, and especially if it
+should be fired upon, they would probably retreat northwards towards the
+great lake, and the Bechuanas would see nothing of them but their spoor
+and dung.
+
+The boys yielded to his representations; and, turning in a different
+direction from that followed by the elephants, they arrived in another
+quarter of an hour at Bavian's Pool, which lay in the very heart of the
+bush, with a clear space overgrown with grass and short rushes of about
+twenty yards all round.  On the west side appeared the rocks of which
+Kobo had told them, and which presented a most picturesque appearance.
+They rose abruptly from the bank of the tarn, to the height of perhaps
+twenty feet, and sank down with a sharp descent to the level ground
+everywhere, except in one place where a series of crags, piled one on
+another, presented a kind of rude and very steep staircase, by which the
+top might be attained.  Up this the party climbed, and ensconced
+themselves snugly under a shelf of rock from which they could see the
+whole of the pool and the surrounding banks.
+
+It was still broad daylight when they reached their place of ambush, and
+the spot was as vacant and still as though the whole landscape had been
+a part of the great Kalahari itself But they had not been there a
+quarter of an hour, when the sun disappeared behind the belt of woodland
+which bounded the sight, and the night of the tropics succeeded with its
+startling rapidity.  The green waste of thorns and shrubs grew first
+dusky brown, and then deep black; the bright sparkling water a dull
+gleamy mirror, faintly rendering back the pale opal of the sky.  But
+presently there came a further change.  The moon rose higher in the
+heavens, and the stars came forth in all the unimaginable glories of a
+southern night--not mere specks of light as seen in the more cloudy
+skies of the north, but hung like cressets in the glowing air, the moon
+itself a bright globe of liquid fire.  A clear soft radiancy diffused
+itself over the whole scene, tipping every tree top and distant eminence
+with silver, and causing the surface of the tarn, as it rippled lazily
+under the evening breeze, to flash in circlets of light.  Presently
+there came a pattering of feet, as a crowd of small animals came down
+from different points of the compass to quench their thirst--antelopes
+with their slender legs and liquid eyes, glancing timidly round them;
+elands and koodoos tossing their stately heads; gnus and buffaloes in
+large herds consorting together for mutual protection; hyenas, jackals,
+and zebras, plunging to the mid-leg in the cool dancing waters, and
+bounding lightly away when their drought was satisfied.  It was a
+beautiful sight to watch them come and go, like the scenes in a
+magic-lantern.
+
+By and by, as the night deepened, the larger beasts of the forest made
+their appearance.  The tall graceful heads of giraffes were seen over
+the tops of the bushes; tigers made their approach, singly or in pairs,
+with their stealthy and noiseless step; lions stalked proudly down, as
+though they felt that the sovereignty of the woods belonged by natural
+right to them; occasionally the ponderous bulk of the rhinoceros might
+be discerned, as he sucked in the refreshing water with his huge
+misshapen snout, and retreated with a grunt of satisfaction when his
+appetite had been appeased.  Frank and Nick looked on with
+ever-increasing interest, though it needed Kobo's oft-repeated
+remonstrances to keep them from discharging their rifles at some of the
+larger specimens, which came within tempting distance of their fire.
+
+It was nearly midnight, and the shores of the pool were beset by a crowd
+of animals, consisting mostly of the larger beasts of prey, when a
+sudden sensation of alarm seemed to agitate the whole of the
+miscellaneous group.  The giraffes lifted their stately heads, snuffed
+the air for a moment, and then bounded silently away; the panthers and
+nylghaus moved more slowly off; the lions uttered low growls, apparently
+of dissatisfaction, but nevertheless followed the retreat of the others.
+Even the sullen black rhinoceros, after bending his head awhile to
+listen, beat a leisurely retreat, viciously snorting as he retired.  In
+a few minutes the shores of the pool were as still and vacant as they
+had been when the boys arrived, five or six hours before.
+
+"What does this mean?" asked Nick in a whisper.  "What have these brutes
+seen or heard, to alarm them so?  Are your countrymen on their way to
+attack them?"
+
+"No, it not that," answered Kobo, in the same subdued accents.  "Beasts
+hear elephant coming down to drink.  All get out of elephant's way.  He
+king among them.  Listen, you hear them."
+
+"Do you really mean it, Kobo?" asked Nick, astonished at this
+information.  "The lions and rhinoceroses can't really be so much afraid
+of the elephants as that comes to?"
+
+"I believe it's true," said Frank; "I know I've been told so before.  A
+lion or a rhinoceros wouldn't mind a single elephant much, I dare say;
+but it's the whole troop of 'em together that they're afraid of.  They'd
+run right over a lion, or a rhinoceros either, and trample the life out
+of them, before they knew where they were.  Yes, Kobo's right.  Here
+they come over that low bit of hill there.  What a lot! and what
+thundering big beasts!"
+
+As he spoke, a dull heavy sound, like the roll of loaded waggons along a
+hard road was heard; and the figure of an enormous elephant emerged from
+the cover of the thicket, its broad flat head, huge misshapen ears, and
+white tusks glistening in the broad moonlight.  It was followed by
+another, and another, each seeming to loom larger than the last, until
+ten of the monsters had reached the banks of the tarn, all of them
+males, and of the largest size.
+
+"All bull," whispered Kobo; "bull drink first, females wait till they
+done."
+
+While he was speaking, the elephants had advanced up to their mid-legs
+in the water, and dipping their trunks in, sucked up the cooling stream
+with a loud gurgling noise.  Frank's fingers insensibly stole to the
+lock of his rifle.  One of the largest of the giants was now scarcely
+more than four or five yards from him, its figure as plainly visible in
+the clear cold light, as though it had been noonday.  Kobo had again to
+lay his hand on the boy's shoulder, and whisper in his ear, "No shoot,
+spoil hunt to-morrow," or he might not have been able to resist the
+temptation.
+
+Presently, however, the males had satisfied their thirst, and moving off
+slowly in a different direction from that by which they had approached
+the pond, re-entered the thicket.  The cow elephants now took their
+places, some twenty or thirty in number, many of them with calves of
+various ages at their sides.  There was scarcely room in the tarn for
+the whole herd, and before they retired, the bright and sparkling waters
+had become a turbid and discoloured flood.  At length, however, they did
+retire, and before the moon had set, the last of the bulky figures had
+disappeared among the foliage.
+
+"Now lie down and sleep;" said Kobo, "no more animals to-night."
+
+The boys complied, and lying down among the bushes which grew here and
+there between the masses of rocks, were soon buried in slumber.  They
+were awakened by Kobo at daybreak; and having eaten their breakfast, and
+taken a dip in the tarn, which by this time had recovered its
+translucent clearness, announced to Kobo that they were ready to take
+the field.
+
+They accompanied the Bechuana accordingly, as he proceeded cautiously to
+follow the track left by the herd on the previous evening, for half a
+mile or so through the bush.  Then desiring them to climb two trees of
+some size, which stood on either side of the path in the heart of the
+woodland--an acacia and a motjeerie--he crept on alone through the
+shrubs, making his way as secretly and noiselessly as a snake, and soon
+vanished from their view.
+
+Presently he reappeared, with the information that the herd were
+browsing at the distance of a few hundred yards only, and seemed to have
+no apprehension of danger.  Chuma, however, and the other hunters would
+now soon make their appearance from the opposite side, and would
+doubtless attack the bull elephants with their assegais, their tusks
+being a valuable prize.  Kobo told them that they could not do better
+than remain where they were.  The elephants would almost certainly be
+driven past the tree in which they lodged, and so give them the
+opportunity they desired of trying their skill as marksmen.  There were
+other trees, he said, at no great distance which were larger, and
+therefore safer, but the elephants might never come near them at all;
+whereas, in their present position, they were almost sure to see what
+passed.
+
+"All right, Kobo," said Frank, "we'll stay here and take our chance.
+After all, it must be a jolly big elephant that would bowl this tree
+over."
+
+Kobo again vanished, and the boys sat on the tiptoe of expectation for
+the next hour or so, but without hearing any sound at all except the
+song of the birds and the buzzing of the insects.  Suddenly, however,
+there broke forth a Babel of discordant sounds.  The yells of the
+Kaffirs--as advancing at the same time from different quarters, they
+assailed the elephants with their assegais and arrows--were overpowered
+by the trumpeting of the huge brutes, and the crash of the thorn and
+seringa bushes, which gave way on every side before them, offering no
+more serious obstacle to their career, than long grass would to that of
+a man.  Presently the whole herd broke from the cover of the jungle,
+hurrying on in a transport of mingled rage and terror--the solid earth
+seeming to tremble under their tread.  The Bechuanas followed, darting
+their assegais from a distance, or thrusting them into the most
+vulnerable parts of the animals, according as opportunities presented
+themselves.  They had broken up into two or three parties, each of which
+chose out one of the largest of the male elephants as the point of
+attack.  Some of these were already so severely wounded, that it was
+with difficulty that they could continue their flight.  It was a strange
+spectacle to witness.  The great bulls, pierced with a perfect grove of
+spears, and dripping with the blood which poured from innumerable
+wounds, staggered along, screaming with pain and fury; while the Kaffirs
+continued to overwhelm them with more darts--mingling their blows with
+entreaties to the huge beasts not to gore or trample on them, but to
+have mercy and spare their lives, at the very moment when they were
+inflicting torture and death on the creatures, whose forbearance they
+implored!
+
+Several huge animals passed in this manner in front of the trees, where
+the two lads were seated; but none of them offered the desired
+opportunity of a fair shot.  Sometimes a tree intervened; sometimes the
+animal's head was hidden by a bush at the moment when they levelled
+their rifles; sometimes the Bechuanas engaged in the attack approached
+the line of their aim too nearly to render it safe for them to fire.  At
+length, however, the opportunity did come.  One of the largest of the
+males, fully twelve foot high, had escaped the notice of the assailants;
+and forcing his way through the haak-doorns and young motjikaaras as
+though they had been so much paper, bid fair to accomplish his escape
+without a wound.  Both lads fired as he passed.  Nick, who had levelled
+at the shoulder, missed his mark by several inches; and his bullet
+striking the creature's side, inflicted only a slight wound, which the
+elephant hardly heeded.  But Frank's aim was more successful.  The
+bullet struck the eye, though not precisely at the spot where it would
+have been instantly fatal; and the pain was so acute, as to arrest the
+monster in his panic-stricken flight.  He stopped short and glared round
+him, seeking for the author of the outrage.  Catching sight of the
+barrel of Frank's rifle as it glanced in the morning sun, he charged
+directly at the tree in which he was seated.  It was an acacia of
+tolerable size, and the branch which bore him was above the reach of the
+animal's trunk.  But so terrific was the force of his rush, that the
+trunk snapped like a rotten bough, and Frank, gun and all, was hurled to
+the ground.  He sprang up, having been fortunately only bruised by the
+fall, and leaving his rifle to take care of itself, took to his heels as
+hard as he could.
+
+"Come here, come here!" shouted Nick; "this tree will hold us both, and
+it's too big for him to break.  Besides, I'm ready for him again now."
+Frank cast a rapid glance round him, and saw that Nick was right.  The
+seringas and oomahaamas near him were thinly scattered, and afforded no
+cover at all; and the brute which had now recovered itself from the
+effect of the stunning blow it had received, was preparing to charge him
+again.  Frank flew, rather than ran, to the tree, and springing lightly
+up, caught the lowest bough and swung himself on to it.  From this he
+mounted to those above it with the agility of a squirrel.  But the
+elephant was upon him, before he could reach the spot where his
+companion was seated.  On it came, with its trunk stretched to the full
+length, and just caught Frank by the toe of the left foot, as he drew
+the other out of its reach.  Frank thought it was all over with him.
+The tip of the trunk had caught firm hold of the shoe; and though it was
+only the tip, so that the animal could not exert its full strength, he
+felt himself drawn downwards with a force which he could not long
+resist.  He had thrown both his arms and the other leg round the branch,
+so that the elephant had not merely the resistance of the boy's muscles
+to encounter, but the solid and massive limb of the great motjeerie.
+Nevertheless, all would speedily have given way, if Nick, leaning
+forward and resting his rifle on the bough beneath him, had not fired
+directly into the monster's eye, as it glared--not two feet below--upon
+him.  Frank felt the deadly grip relax, as the elephant sank downwards
+and rolled over on its side, in its death agony, ploughing up the earth
+with its tusks, and presenting to the eye a vast quivering mass of dull
+grey hide, that gradually settled down into stillness.
+
+Before Nick could fairly realise to himself his own success, the
+Bechuanas had surrounded the carcass, and were greeting the two boys
+with shouts of admiration and approval.  They had not witnessed the
+manner in which the elephant had come by his death, a belt of shrubs
+having cut them off from the tree, in which Nick had been seated.  They
+concluded that the animal had simply been brought down, as it was
+rushing by, by a successful shot from the lad's rifle; which must indeed
+have been fired with extraordinary skill to be so instantaneously fatal.
+The elephant slain was the great leader of the herd, fully twelve feet
+in height, and with tusks that projected at least two feet beyond the
+lip.  It was by far the most valuable prize of the day, and its ivory
+would fetch a considerable sum in the market.  They overwhelmed the
+successful sportsman with applause; and mounting Nick on their
+shoulders, carried him back in triumph to the village, which lay at the
+distance of not more than a couple of miles.  Nick, who did not
+particularly relish the honours bestowed upon him, nor the close
+contiguity to the persons of the natives into which he was brought, did
+his best to explain the occurrence to his bearers, and request them to
+desist from rendering compliments which were altogether unmerited.
+
+"I say, darky," he cried, "drop that, will you?  I can walk home quite
+well without your help, thank you all the same.  I'm not much of a shot
+with a rifle, and shouldn't have killed the chap, I expect, if he hadn't
+come and obligingly put his eye within half a yard of me!  Bother it
+man, put me down.  How their skins do stink--to be sure!  Here, Kobo,
+Kobo"--he had just caught sight of his attendant, as he spoke--"just
+explain to these fellows, will you, that I prefer my own legs to their
+arms, if they have no objection; and the flavour of grease and red ochre
+isn't agreeable to everybody.  I prefer a different style of perfume
+myself!"
+
+"Bechuanas carry white boy, 'cause he great hunter, kill big elephant,
+pay him great honour," returned Kobo.
+
+"I understand that plain enough," said Nick, "but I wish they'd honour
+me according to my own notions, instead of theirs."
+
+"Take it easy, Nick," said Frank, laughing.  "We shall soon enter the
+kraal now.  I hope that brute, Maomo, will be in the way to see our
+entry.  It will do him good."
+
+As they ran on in this way, they approached the Bechuana kraal, where
+indeed, in accordance, as it seemed, with Wilmore's wish, nearly the
+whole population, that had remained behind from the elephant hunt, were
+assembled.  Maomo was in the middle of them, apparently engaged in
+making some address of a warning or threatening character to his
+hearers, which had the effect of exciting and terrifying them.  As the
+lads approached nearer, they saw that the people were gathered round
+some object stretched on the ground; to which the prophet continually
+pointed during the pauses of his speech.  Presently they perceived that
+the object was an ox, dying in great suffering from some malady.  The
+poor brute's limbs were swollen to a huge size, froth was issuing from
+its mouth and nostrils, the eyes rolled dim and bloodshot, and every now
+and then its whole frame was shaken by violent convulsions.  As the
+chief, who was only a few paces behind the two boys, came on the scene,
+Maomo burst forth into a torrent of declamation, having reserved his
+energies, it appeared, for Chuma's more especial hearing.
+
+"See you here," he exclaimed; "the pestilence has smitten the oxen, this
+poor beast will die, and no one can heal it; what has happened to one
+will happen to all.  There will not be an ox left alive in the village
+in two or three days more.  And who has caused it?  The White Prophet.
+He prays to the wicked Spirits, and they hear him and send the
+pestilence!  Every day, for many weeks past, he and the young prophet
+have been praying to the Spirits to punish the Bechuanas, because they
+will not worship his bad gods.  Why does not Chuma forbid him?  Why does
+he not punish him?  Does not Chuma care that our cattle die?  Chuma's
+own cattle will die also."
+
+The Bechuana chief had halted, as he reached the spot where the ox was
+lying, and was now standing over it with a face of evident perplexity
+and dismay.  There was no mistaking the symptoms of the malady, which,
+some years previously, had nearly caused a famine in the village, by the
+number of horned cattle which it had swept off.  Nor was there any known
+remedy for the disease.  Its appearance in the village might well cause
+the utmost alarm.  It was almost impossible to account for the
+visitation.  It had been generally attributed in former years to drought
+and deficient pasturage; but those causes could not be assigned now, as
+there had been abundance both of water and sweet grass for many weeks
+past.  He did not suspect the truth--that Maomo had paid a secret visit
+to a distant tribe where the disease was raging, and brought back with
+him some of the virus, with which he had inoculated some two or three
+isolated cows.  All Chuma's former suspicions of De Walden rushed back
+upon the chief with accumulated force.
+
+"How do you know that the White Prophet has caused this?" he asked,
+taking advantage of the first pause in Maomo's oration.
+
+"My Spirits have told me so," replied Maomo.  "They have sent good rains
+and healthy seasons to the Bechuanas, and now the White Falsehood-man
+has come among them and taught them to worship false and wicked Spirits,
+and many of the Bechuanas are beginning to pray to them, and the wicked
+Spirits hear them, and answer their evil prayers."
+
+"This is not true," exclaimed Chuma, angrily.  "I have forbidden the
+White Prophet to offer prayers to his Spirits.  I have forbidden any of
+my people to hearken to his words.  Who is there that would dare to
+disobey me."
+
+"The White Prophet treats your words as if they had been the idle
+winds," returned the rainmaker, "and he has persuaded many of the people
+to disregard them too.  He thinks his Spirits are strong enough to
+protect him against your anger; and so they would be if it were not that
+my Spirits are stronger still; but he does not know that, and presumes
+to set you at open defiance."
+
+"Is this true?" cried the chief, whose passion was now strongly excited.
+"Does this white man pray, as the rainmaker says?  Do any presume to
+join in his prayers, if he so offers them?"
+
+His eye was fixed sternly upon Kobo, whom he regarded in a general way
+as answerable for De Walden's movements.
+
+Frank and Nick glanced anxiously at their friend, hoping that he would
+say something which might allay Chuma's anger; but to their surprise and
+dismay Kobo answered--
+
+"It is true, chief I have not ventured to speak for fear that the White
+Prophet should do me some hurt; but Maomo will protect me.  It is true.
+He prays every day in the big hut to his Spirits, and many of the
+Bechuanas pray with him, but not Kobo.  It is not their fault.  The
+White Prophet has bewitched them."
+
+"Let some one fetch him hither," said Chuma.  "If his prayers have done
+this harm, his prayers shall undo it, and that without delay, or it
+shall be the worse for him."
+
+"I will go to fetch him," said Kobo.  "I know where he is to be met
+with, and how to take him when he is off his guard.  Let the rainmaker
+come with me, and we will bind and bring him hither."
+
+With a smile of gratified malice the wizard accepted the invitation, and
+hurried off to De Walden's hut, accompanied by half a dozen stout
+Bechuanas.  The chief stood in gloomy silence awaiting his return, while
+Frank and Nick looked on in an agony of doubt and apprehension.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+DE WALDEN BROUGHT TO TRIAL--HIS DEFENCE--IMMINENT DANGER--DE WALDEN'S
+DOOM--THE ESCAPE--A RAPID JOURNEY--KOODOO'S KLOOF.
+
+Maomo and his myrmidons were not long in accomplishing their errand.  De
+Walden and Warley had returned, about an hour previously, from their
+visit to the hut of old Dalili, whose oxen had been stricken with the
+pestilence early that morning.  The missionary had from the first
+entertained little hope of saving any of the animals.  He had several
+times encountered the disease during his residence in various parts of
+Kaffir land, and had very rarely known any treatment of it to have any
+effect.  It was too late to try inoculation with the cattie already
+attacked, but he had helped the old man to apply the remedy in question,
+or rather the preventive in such of his oxen as were still healthy.  In
+the others, though he had done all that was possible for their relief,
+he had warned him that he must not expect them to recover, and several
+of them had died before he left the village.
+
+He was a good deal disturbed at the old Bechuana's demeanour.  He was
+one of the most satisfactory of his converts, and De Walden had resolved
+that in a few weeks more he might be admitted to baptism.  But Dalili's
+whole nature seemed changed.  He did not, indeed, say anything to imply
+that a change in his religious opinions had taken place, but he seemed
+overwhelmed with terror, and to expect some terrible punishment to fall
+upon himself.  The missionary and Ernest had done their best to quiet
+him, and had returned home to take some necessary food and rest before
+again seeking Dalili's hut, when Chuma's emissaries, headed by Maomo and
+Kobo, broke in upon them.
+
+De Walden received them with the calmness of a man who had long carried
+his life in his hand, and knew that at any moment he might be required
+to surrender it.  He quietly rose, and telling his captors there was no
+need to bind him, or use violence of any kind, as he was quite ready to
+go with them, took his hat and walked out of the hut.  The others
+however insisted on tying his hands with strong leathern thongs,
+apprehensive that he might work some spell if they were left at liberty.
+
+Escorted by Maomo on one side, and Kobo on the other, he advanced to the
+spot where Chuma was still standing with a large crowd of Bechuanas
+round him; the whole population of the village having by this time
+gathered together.  It was a strange and striking scene.  The chief,
+attired for the chase, carrying his weapons, occupied the central
+place--a large and martial figure.  He was surrounded by a crowd of
+warriors armed and arrayed like himself, many of the party bearing in
+their dress and persons marks of the recent encounter with the
+elephants, which gave them a ghastly and bizarre appearance.  The women
+and children filled up the background, looking with awful anticipation
+on what would probably ensue.
+
+The missionary stepped calmly forward into the centre of the ring,
+meeting the stern glance of the Kaffir chief with a firm look, under
+which Chuma's eye at length was compelled to falter.  This, perhaps,
+rendered his first words more bitter than they might otherwise have
+been.
+
+"Disease hath smitten the cattle of the Bechuanas," he said; "whence
+comes this, and who has caused it?"
+
+"It comes, like all visitations, from the hand of God; and the reason
+why He sends them is sometimes to teach mankind His power, and sometimes
+to punish their sins."
+
+"What is the reason why He has sent this?"
+
+"It is impossible for any man to say.  He only knows Himself His own
+purposes."
+
+"But you have yourself told me you have power with God.  You have said
+that He always hears His servants?"
+
+"I have, and I repeat it."
+
+"Then ask Him to take away this disease, and if He complies, then we
+will be His servants.  Will you do this?"
+
+"I will pray to God that He will be pleased to remove it.  Whether He
+will do so or not, rests with Him."
+
+Chuma hesitated.  His belief in De Walden was shaken by what had
+happened, but not wholly overthrown.  Maomo saw his embarrassment, and
+hastened to interfere.
+
+"Chief," he said, "it is not by prayers, which are but words, that the
+White Falsehood--man has prevailed on the Evil Spirits to send this
+curse upon our people.  Nor will it be by prayers that he can prevail on
+them to take it off again.  There are sacrifices that he offers to his
+gods.  I know that he was seen to pour water on Gaike's forehead, and
+utter some charm while he did so.  I know that there are sacrifices
+which he renders, when he will suffer no one but his white companions to
+be present.  Ask him, and he cannot deny this?"
+
+"How is this?" said Chuma, turning again to De Walden; "you hear what
+the rainmaker says.  Is it true?"
+
+"It is true that we have rites at which none but believers are allowed
+to be present," returned De Walden.
+
+"Will you offer these to your gods, that the plague may be removed from
+the cattle of the Bechuanas?"
+
+"It is not enough that you make him promise that," interposed Maomo
+again, dreading that De Walden would comply with this request, and so
+avert, for the time at all events, the chief's anger.  "He must do so in
+public, so that you and all our people may be sure that he really
+sacrifices to his god."
+
+"You hear, white man," said Chuma, sternly; "do you consent?"
+
+"I cannot profane holy mysteries in such a manner," was the answer.  "I
+will pray, and offer what you call sacrifices in secret, but not before
+you."
+
+"You hear him, chief," exclaimed the wizard.  "He seeks to put you off
+with empty words.  Now hear me; I will take away this woe.  The cattle
+of the Bechuanas shall not die.  But I cannot do this until the White
+Lie-man has been put to silence.  The Spirits will not hearken to me
+while he lives.  Choose, therefore, whether this impostor shall live to
+work his evil pleasure, and your cattle perish, or whether he shall
+receive his due punishment, and your cattle shall be saved."
+
+His words were drowned in a cry which burst simultaneously from a
+hundred lips, "Slay the White Wizard; preserve our cattie."
+
+"Once more, you hear," exclaimed Chuma; "offer sacrifice or you die;
+which do you choose?  Will you sacrifice?"
+
+"My honoured friend and father," said Ernest, addressing De Walden in a
+low voice apart, as he saw that he was about to offer a final refusal,
+"need this be?  Wherefore not comply with their demand?  Did not Elijah
+so challenge the priests of Baal, and God upheld him in the trial.  And
+are you not as truly God's servant as he was; and God is the same
+yesterday, to-day, and for ever?  Why should he not answer you, by
+healing their diseased oxen, even as he answered Elijah, by consuming
+the sacrifice?"
+
+"It had been revealed to Elijah that he was to act as he did," returned
+the missionary in the same tone.  "I have received no such intimations,
+and must not so take upon myself.  Our God is indeed the same, and it
+may please Him to interpose and save me, or leave me to glorify Him by
+my death; but I must leave that in His hands."  He proceeded aloud, "No,
+chief, I will not offer the sacrifice you require.  I cannot explain my
+reasons now, but I refuse."
+
+"Then you shall die, and that speedily.  Take him to his hut, until the
+preparations are made; and be careful that he does not escape, or your
+own lives shall be the penalty.  Take the other whites, and keep them in
+safe custody also.  We will determine in the council what is to be done
+with them presently."
+
+The four Englishmen were dragged off under Kobo's charge, the latter
+heaping every possible insult upon them during their conveyance to the
+hut, and ordering the men under his charge to bind them with rhinoceros
+thongs, which cut them so severely, that even the attendants seemed
+inclined to remonstrate at such needless severity.  But Kobo silenced
+them by threatening to report their lukewarmness to the chief.  Then
+desiring that the guns and everything belonging to them should be
+removed, and placed for security in his hut, he withdrew with a parting
+menace, to take his place at the council about to be held in the chief's
+residence.
+
+The lads were too deeply moved at the approaching execution of their
+friend, and the danger impending over themselves, to feel the disgust
+and indignation at Kobo's double-faced treachery, which at another time
+it would have provoked.  They listened reverently to the words addressed
+to them by De Walden; who warned them that their position was one of the
+greatest peril, and though he earnestly hoped that their lives might be
+spared, they would do wisely to be prepared for the worst.  "God's
+providential care for you," he said, "has been shown so often and so
+signally of late, that I need not bid you to trust wholly in Him.  But
+it would be no kindness in me not to warn you that your present peril is
+very great--as great perhaps as it was in the Hottentot village, though
+at first sight it might not seem to be so."
+
+"Not all of us are in imminent danger, I hope," said Warley.  "I know
+they are angry with me, almost as much as they are with you, but they
+have no grounds of quarrel with Frank or Gilbert."
+
+"I thought you might suppose so," returned the missionary, "and that was
+the reason why I spoke.  It is plain that they mean to put me to a
+speedy death--"
+
+"Surely they dare not," interposed Frank.  "They know that Charles will
+be returning, before long, with messengers from the English governor at
+Cape Town.  He is not likely to endure the murder of a British subject
+without a shadow of justice or reason.  And when he hears--"
+
+"Ay, Frank, that is just it," said De Walden.  "They will take care that
+he shall never hear it.  They will probably say that I have died of some
+disease, or have taken my departure from their kraal of my own accord.
+But your evidence would disprove their story, and they will have no
+scruples in securing your silence by the surest of all methods--that is,
+by putting you to death."
+
+"Then they would have to account for all four of us," observed Gilbert,
+"and some one in the kraal--Dalili or Gaike, or Mololo perhaps--might
+tell Charles the truth, and then very signal punishment would probably
+be exacted."
+
+"You do not know these people," said De Walden.  "The influence of this
+pretended prophet would be greater than ever after his supposed victory
+over me.  They will be too much terrified to venture even on a word.  If
+Kobo had remained faithful to us indeed--"
+
+"The treacherous wretch!" exclaimed Frank, passionately.  "I feel more
+indignant with him than with Chuma, or even Maomo himself."
+
+"This is no time for anger, Frank," said the elder man, gravely.  "I
+should not speak of him at all, if it had not been necessary to explain
+to you your true position.  If Kobo had remained faithful, I say,
+something might have been done.  We might have sent him off from the
+village, and Chuma would have been afraid that he had gone to report
+what had happened to the English.  But that hope does not exist, and
+there is nothing for it but for us all to prepare ourselves for the
+worst."
+
+"They may do what they will," said Warley.  "If they take your life, I
+have no wish to keep mine."
+
+"You must not say that, Ernest.  God may have a great work for you to
+do; and if your life is preserved, I shall feel assured it is for that
+purpose.  But we have probably but a short time to pass together; let us
+make the best use of that."
+
+They all knelt down while the missionary offered up a fervent prayer in
+behalf of each one of them, in which all heartily joined; and they were
+still engaged in their prayers, when Kobo re-entered, accompanied by his
+satellites, to announce to them their sentence, or rather that of De
+Walden.
+
+This, he gave them to understand, with diabolical exultation, was to be
+the most painful form of death that imagination could conceive--one
+which was resorted to only in the instance of enemies captured in war,
+upon whom they wished to inflict the worst possible sufferings.  De
+Walden was to be eaten alive by ants!  He was to be pegged down on his
+back over one of the large ant-hills, some three feet in height--great
+numbers of which were to be found at the distance of a mile or two from
+the village--his neck, wrists, and ankles firmly secured by thongs of
+rhinoceros hide, so that it would be impossible to move even an inch to
+the right or left.  He was to be left in this position half an hour or
+so after nightfall, about which time the ants, which had remained in a
+state of torpor all day, were wont to come out of their nests in such
+multitudes as to blacken the whole of the ground round one of their
+hills.  They would be sure to fasten at once on any animal substance
+near them, and so great was their voracity, that in the course of three
+or four hours, the largest carcasses would be stripped of every particle
+of skin or flesh, and be left a bare and whitened skeleton.
+
+This, Kobo informed them, was to be the form of death chosen for the
+missionary.  Some of the councillors had suggested death by poison, or a
+blow from a heavy club; but Maomo, he gave them to understand--Maomo,
+supported by himself--had insisted that the Bad Spirits would not be
+appeased, unless the White Enemy died by a death of the greatest agony.
+As for the others, they would probably be pricked with a lance-head,
+steeped in the juice of the euphorbia, or the venom of the poison grub.
+But that would not be finally decided until the following day; only,
+anyhow, they were quite sure to undergo death in some painful and
+lingering shape.
+
+The only drawback to these tidings, he further apprised them, was, that
+the execution of the missionary's sentence would necessarily be deferred
+to the following day.  A great feast was to take place at sundown on the
+flesh of the elephants killed that morning, and the chief could not be
+induced to put that off, even to gratify the anger he had conceived
+against the White Prophet.  Maomo had made the attempt, but in vain.
+Nor would he leave the execution of the sentence to the rainmaker, so
+that the missionary's death was to be put off till sunset on the
+following day: but, then, Kobo added, most probably the fate of the
+others would be determined, and all four would be executed together.
+
+Having delivered himself of this outpouring of malice, and once more
+carefully examined the rhinoceros thongs, to make assurance doubly sure,
+Kobo relieved them of his presence; and soon afterwards the whole party,
+overcome by the intense weariness which anxiety and suffering of mind
+occasion, sank into a heavy and dreamless sleep.
+
+It might have been four or five hours afterwards, when Frank was roused
+by a pricking feeling as though some one had stabbed him slightly with a
+knife.  He started up.  The hut was quite dark, though the stars outside
+were faintly glimmering.  He was about to cry out when a hand was placed
+on his mouth, and a voice whispered in his ear.
+
+"It me--Kobo.  No make noise.  I come help you get away."  At the same
+instant he again felt the prick of the knife, and the leather thong drop
+from his arm.  In a moment the explanation of Kobo's altered demeanour
+occurred to him.  The man had affected the bitter hatred he had
+expressed, in order that they might be handed over to his custody
+instead of that of Maomo, as they would have been, had he been suspected
+of being their friend.
+
+"All right, Kobo," he said softly; "shall I strike a light?"
+
+"No, no.  That spoil all.  If you have knife, cut the fastenings of your
+legs.  I set prophet free."
+
+The others were roused with the same caution which Frank had received,
+and in a few minutes they were all at liberty.  Then Kobo addressed
+them, still speaking under his breath.
+
+"Chief and all much drunk.  Only rainmaker sober.  He suspect me.  He
+watch me while feast go on.  I see him, though he not guess it.  I seem
+to drink twice as much as any, but throw it all away on ground.  When
+feast half over, I tumble flat Rainmaker think Kobo drunk, but I creep
+away in dark.  Now all follow me; creep like snake among hedge and bush;
+lucky no moon to-night."
+
+Following his direction, the whole party emerged one after another from
+the hut, and crawled on their hands and knees among the dwarf shrubs
+which lay scattered over the ground, until they had reached Kobo's
+cottage, which was on the outskirts of the village.  Here they found
+their guns, belts, and flasks, carefully hidden away under a heap of
+weeds.  Having possessed themselves of these, they again hurried on,
+keeping within the cover of the wood, until they were at least half a
+mile from the Bechuana village; when the wooded covert gave place to an
+open plain overspread with large stones, and now and then patches of
+thorn.
+
+"Get on as fast as we can," was Kobo's direction now.  "Too far from
+kraal for Bechuanas to follow to-night."
+
+"And to-morrow they will none of them be in a condition to undertake any
+long journey, I expect," observed Nick.
+
+"Rainmaker not drunk.  He keep sober," said Kobo.  "Very likely he gone
+to hut to see all safe, and find all gone!" added the savage with a
+chuckle.  "But he no know which way to follow in dark.  Not follow till
+to-morrow."
+
+"You have managed very cleverly, Kobo," said Wilmore; "but I must say I
+wonder this wizard, or rainmaker, or whatever you call him, consented to
+leave us in your charge."
+
+"He not do that," answered Kobo, "only he could not help it.  I know how
+plague broke out among Dalili's cows.  I see rainmaker putting bad stuff
+into their sides with a little knife.  He know that I saw him, and he
+'fraid to speak against Kobo, for fear Kobo speak against him.
+Rainmaker bad man.  Look, you see that big ant-hill there close by?"
+
+"Yes, we see it plain enough," answered Warley, with a shudder.
+
+"That where rainmaker fasten Patoto 'bout six months ago.  Patoto strong
+brave man, favourite with Chuma.  Maomo jealous.  He pretend Patoto
+bewitch people.  Nyzee, Chuma's young wife, very sick, Maomo say Patoto
+bewitched her, and Nyzee believe it and persuade Chuma.  Patoto say it
+no true, but no one believe him.  He sentenced to same death as White
+Prophet.  Kobo saw him fastened to ant-hill.  Six strong posts driven
+into ground.  Patoto's feet tied with rheims to two; his hands to two
+more; broad rhinoceros straps fastened to other two over Patoto's belly.
+They strip him naked first, for why--no good to leave clothes on him,
+ants eat--"
+
+"I understand, Kobo," exclaimed Warley, interrupting the horrible
+narrative, which he could not endure to hear.  "But why did not you set
+him at liberty, as you have set us?"
+
+"Eh!  Patoto only black man--not like White Prophet," answered Kobo,
+coolly; "besides, chief set men to watch, for fear Patoto himself get
+away when ant begin to eat--"
+
+"Be silent, for Heaven's sake," exclaimed De Walden, who had hitherto
+repressed his emotion, but could now bear no more.  "Blessed be His holy
+name, who has delivered His servant from torments, which are unendurable
+even in thought.  Let us speak no further of them.  How far, and in what
+direction, do you propose that we should proceed to-night?"
+
+"We fly towards Basuto country.  Basutos and Bechuanas not friends, or
+Chuma send message for White Prophet to be given back to him."
+
+"The Basutos!  Very good.  I can speak their language, and they will
+very likely shelter us until we are rested sufficiently to travel to
+Cape Town.  But the Basuto country lies at some distance, does it not?"
+
+"Yes, several days' journey.  But when we have passed Koodoo's kloof,
+all safe."
+
+"Koodoo's kloof?  What, on the Vaal river?  The river is not passable
+there."
+
+"Ah, you not know.  We pass all safe, so they not catch us."
+
+The missionary said no more.  Kobo evidently knew what he was about, and
+there was very little chance of their escaping from their pursuers
+except through his help.  By his skilful management they had probably
+secured several hours' start, but that was all.  The Bechuanas would be
+sure to be on their track on the following day, and their swiftness of
+foot was proverbial even among the Kaffir tribes.  He resolved to attend
+implicitly to Kobo's instructions, and a few words from him prevailed on
+the lads to do the same.
+
+They hurried on till the forenoon of the next day, and then rested only
+a few hours during the meridian heat, resuming their journey with a
+speed which taxed the boys' powers to the utmost, and against which they
+would have rebelled, if they had not been plainly told by their guide
+that their lives depended on the speed with which that and the following
+day's travel could be accomplished.  Kobo allowed another halt shortly
+before midnight, and the lads were further refreshed by a bathe in a
+deep cavity in the rock where the rain water had collected, before
+setting out on the following morning.  The character of the country they
+were traversing now became more pleasing, and seemed to promise abundant
+shade and plenty as they advanced.  The landscape was varied by groves
+of palms and sycamores; and not unfrequently date trees and figs offered
+to the travellers their ripe and tempting fruit.  The dark-foliaged
+moshoma was relieved by the yellow of the mimosa, and the lilac of the
+plumbago.  Herds of antelopes, and occasionally graceful koodoos and
+elands, bounded by them, and little rivulets, evidently on their way to
+mingle with some large river, covered the ground with a carpet of
+verdure.
+
+"Vaal river near now," remarked Kobo, when they paused a little before
+moonrise on the evening of the second day.  "White boys travel fast--
+travel like men.  Bechuanas not catch them."
+
+"That is good hearing at all events," remarked Nick.  "A fellow never
+knows what he can do till he's tried.  I didn't believe I could have
+gone such a distance in three days, as I really have gone in less than
+two--no, not to save my life."
+
+"Well, it has been to save your life," remarked Warley; "you forget
+that."
+
+"No, I don't," retorted the other.  "It's about the only thing I'm safe
+not to forget!  Well, Kobo, when shall we get to this kloof of yours--
+to-night, or to-morrow morning?"
+
+"To-morrow," said the Bechuana, "'bout ten o'clock, if all well."
+
+They resumed their journey before daybreak, in no way abating their
+speed, though the stamina of the three younger travellers seemed now on
+the point of giving way.  They struggled on, however, hour after hour,
+until the sun began to mount high in the heavens, and the heat to grow
+every moment more intolerable.  Then, suddenly, Kobo pointed with his
+finger to a narrow ravine, richly wooded with trees of every variety of
+leaf, running between two lofty mountain ridges, and exclaimed--
+
+"That Koodoo's kloof.  We safe now!"
+
+Another quarter of an hour brought them within the shelter of the noble
+trees, which extended their network of delicious shade overhead.  Kobo
+led them on by a path, which gradually sloped downwards for nearly half
+a mile, till the sound of running water broke upon their ears, and they
+found themselves on the margin of a broad and rapid river.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+A RAFT--FATE OF MAOMO--THE ISLAND--A STRANGE APPARITION--A HIPPOPOTAMUS
+HUNT--THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGER--NICK AGAIN--THE HIPPOPOTAMUS TRAP.
+
+"Well, we are here," said Frank, an hour or so afterwards as they still
+lay on the grassy bank of the stream, enjoying alike the rest to their
+limbs, and the delicious coolness of the river breeze.  "We are here,
+thanks to you, Kobo, for the same.  But how we are to get across beats
+me altogether.  This is not a narrow channel over which you could drop a
+tree; and if it had been, the cliffs opposite are two or three hundred
+feet high, and go down straight into the water.  It is too deep to ford,
+and too rapid to swim, even if there was a landing-place on the other
+side, which there is not."
+
+"No want to cross river," answered the Bechuana, briefly.
+
+"Not want to cross it, Kobo?" asked Warley, "why I thought you said this
+was the point to which Chuma might pursue us, but he dare not go beyond
+it."
+
+"So I did.  See now; give me the axe."
+
+He got up as he spoke, and began lopping off the boughs of a large
+willow, which grew at no great distance from the spot where they had
+been resting, choosing those which were about six inches in diameter.
+When he had collected a sufficient number of them, he reduced them all
+to an uniform length of some ten feet, and laid them on the ground side
+by side.  He then tore down a number of parasitical creepers, which were
+almost as tough and pliant as so many cords, and began binding the logs
+together by their means.
+
+"What are you making, Kobo?" inquired Nick, after contemplating his
+proceeding for some minutes with much interest.  "Make raft, cover it
+with reeds, and launch it on river.  It carry us to island yonder."  He
+pointed as he spoke to a group of trees, growing apparently in the
+middle of the river's channel, at the distance of perhaps a mile.
+"There we rest, find plenty of food, fruit, and fish too.  Then I go to
+look for Basuto people, and tell them 'bout white men."
+
+"Cover the raft with reeds?  Hadn't we better go and cut some, then?"
+suggested Warley; "or, rather, hadn't.  Nick and Frank better go and
+gather them, while I help you to tie the logs."
+
+"Very good.  They two take axe, one cut reeds, other bring them in
+armfuls."
+
+Mr De Walden did not awake from the sleep into which he had fallen
+immediately on reaching the bank, until the raft was nearly completed.
+He understood at once the purpose for which it was constructed.  "It
+will bear us safely enough, no doubt," he said, "and we shall find
+abundance of food on the island; but will not the Bechuanas suspect the
+place of our retreat, and follow us?"
+
+"Bechuanas not venture on Yellow River," said Kobo; "besides, if they
+make raft, we shoot them from island, as easy as so many sheep.  Kobo
+kill them all with bow and arrow--say nothing of guns."
+
+"That is true," said De Walden; "and besides we could use our own raft
+to escape to the opposite shore before they came up.  Well, we had
+better push the raft into the stream, hadn't we?  It seems to be
+finished; and there is no wisdom in staying here longer than can be
+helped."
+
+Kobo assented, and Frank coming up at that moment with his last heap of
+reeds, the four, by their united exertions, launched their handiwork,
+which was found to float very well.  The guns, with the rest of the
+baggage, were then put on board; some long poles selected to serve as
+paddles, or puntpoles, as occasion might require; and the adventurers
+prepared to commence their voyage as soon as Nick joined them.
+
+This he did almost immediately afterwards, but in breathless haste and
+alarm.
+
+"Get on to the raft and push off," he cried, as soon as he was able to
+command his voice.  "The Bechuanas are after us, with that scoundrel
+Maomo at their head."
+
+He was obeyed with the utmost promptitude.  In two minutes they had
+pushed from the shore and were beginning to catch the current, when the
+truth of Gilbert's words was proved by a headlong rush of Bechuanas to
+the riverside, made in the hope of arresting the progress of the raft.
+They darted their assegais after the travellers, and cast long lassoes
+of leather; some of them even rushed into the water, trying to seize the
+logs with their hands.
+
+"Stoop down!" shouted Kobo; "they shoot arrows."  All five threw
+themselves on their faces among the reeds, just in time to allow a
+flight of arrows to pass over them and bespatter the surface of the
+river beyond.
+
+"Ah, you catch that," cried Kobo, as he drew his bowstring in answer,
+and saw his arrow quivering in the neck of the rainmaker.  "You no cure
+that, Maomo--you clever doctor, but no cure that!  Him dead," he
+continued, complacently addressing his companions, "him dead in half an
+hour.  Poison quite fresh and good!"
+
+"Unhappy wretch!" exclaimed the missionary, as he watched the Bechuanas
+gather in dismay round their fallen prophet.  "I have no doubt you speak
+the truth, Kobo; and the impostor drew his fate upon himself.  But it is
+a fearful ending!  When will the light of God's truth shine in this
+benighted land?"
+
+"Yes, Kobo speak truth," said the guide, answering the only part of De
+Walden's speech which he understood.  "Kobo speak truth--Maomo dead for
+certain--he suffer bad pain too.  Ah, they carry him away.  No trouble
+us more."
+
+The raft was by this time in the central channel of the river, sweeping
+rapidly down towards the island.  In about half an hour this was
+reached; and Kobo steering it towards a spot where several willows
+stretched out into the stream, contrived to lodge it securely between
+two of them.  The party then landed, and carried all their goods on
+shore; after which Kobo directed them to haul the raft also on to the
+bank, and hide it carefully among the long grass and rushes.
+
+"People no come that way," he said, pointing down the river; "large deep
+falls, and no come from that bank--rocks too steep and high.  But may
+come from other bank, or same way as we, from further down.  Sometimes
+Basutos hunt `'potmus,' as white man call him."
+
+"Hippopotamuses!" exclaimed Frank.  "Are there any of them hereabouts?"
+
+"Plenty 'potmus.  All along that bank--wonder we not see them.  All
+among canes there--feed at night mostly--come out by and by."
+
+The raft was by this time hidden away, and the boys, under Kobo's
+guidance, proceeded to explore the island, which was perhaps two hundred
+feet in length, by thirty in width.  It was covered with a rich growth
+of mossy grass, interspersed with flowers of every variety of colour,
+and of the rarest fragrance.  Wild geraniums, jessamines, arums, lilies
+scarlet and blue and purple, spread like a gorgeous carpet underfoot.
+Overhead pear trees, pomegranates, and wild plums, figs, quinces, and
+bananas, were intermingled with the foliage of the cypress, the gum, the
+willow, and a hundred others.  Kobo might well say there was plenty of
+food to be obtained in the island, which seemed to them to be like an
+enchanted garden.  They were delighted with the prospect of remaining
+there some days to rest and refresh themselves, while Kobo went on his
+errand.  They soon chose the spot where they meant to fix their
+headquarters.  Just about the middle of the islet, three large fig trees
+and a date grew so near to one another, that their interlacing boughs
+formed a roof impenetrable alike to sun or storm.  The undergrowth of
+shrubs between the boles was soon cleared away by the help of the axe,
+and left a sort of bower about twelve feet square, open only on one
+side, and tapestried, as it were, with the loveliest flowers.  Here they
+piled together the heaps of reed from the raft, which the sun had
+already dried, to make their beds, and here they sat down, an hour or
+two after their arrival, to enjoy the luxury of an abundant repast, and
+a long night of unbroken rest after it.
+
+On the following morning, Kobo, having constructed for himself a much
+smaller raft, consisting simply of bundles of reed laid crosswise over
+one another, took himself off to the opposite bank, which, as he had
+told them, belonged to the Basutos.  Here, having drawn the reeds
+ashore, he waved his hand to the English travellers, and then vanished
+among the shrubs.  Left to their own devices, De Walden and Ernest
+withdrew to their arbour, to continue a conversation deeply interesting
+to them both, which they had begun on the previous evening; while Frank
+and Nick, having contrived to manufacture some extempore fishing-lines,
+betook themselves to a point where a shelf of stone, immediately on the
+water's edge, offered them a pleasant seat, and began fishing.
+
+They had better success than they had expected, considering the rudeness
+of their tackle, and their utter ignorance as to the proper bait to be
+used.  Half a dozen tolerable-sized fish, mostly eels and barbel, soon
+lay lifeless on the turf at their side, and they were still pursuing
+their sport with unabated eagerness, when they were startled by a loud
+splashing and snorting at no great distance from them.  They leaped up,
+for a moment apprehending that the Bechuanas were in pursuit of them,
+notwithstanding Kobo's assurances that there was no fear of such a
+_contretemps_, and hurried to the southern extremity of the islet, where
+the noise was audible.  Several dark shapeless objects, ten or twelve
+feet long, were to be seen floating apparently on the water; but whether
+they were fragments of wood, or the carcasses of drowned oxen, or living
+animals, it was impossible at first to determine.  Presently, however,
+one of the floating masses disappeared beneath the waters, and anon rose
+again, with a loud grunting noise which could not be mistaken.
+
+"They are the hippopotamuses Kobo told us of," said Nick.  "It is very
+odd, but I had forgotten all about them."
+
+"Hush!" answered Frank, "they are coming this way, I think; and if so,
+we shall get a clear view of them.  I want to see one above all things.
+I've seen a picture of one, but that gives no real idea."
+
+"Yes, they are coming this way, certainly," remarked Gilbert, a few
+minutes afterwards; "but how slowly and leisurely they move.  I should
+think we might get a shot at one presently, if we keep quite quiet.
+Luckily, it is plain that they have not seen us, or they wouldn't come
+this way."
+
+As he spoke, Frank laid his hand on his arm, and pointed silently
+towards a projecting point of the river bank, about two hundred yards
+off.  The head of a canoe, formed out of the trunk of a tree apparently,
+and holding two persons, had just come in sight.  It was followed
+closely by another of the same description, a good deal larger, and at
+some distance by several reed rafts, nearly as big as that which had
+conveyed them to the island on the previous day.  The boys drew
+instantly back into the leafy covert, again fancying that the Bechuanas
+were on their track.  A very short examination of the new-comers,
+however, satisfied them that this was not the case.  Not only was their
+dress different in several particulars from that of the Kaffirs, but the
+weapons with which they were armed showed plainly that they had not come
+out for the purpose of apprehending runaways, but of hunting some
+animals--no doubt, indeed, the hippopotamus; for the weapons they
+carried were not used in the chase of any other animal But what rendered
+it absolutely certain that they could not belong to their late pursuers,
+was the presence, in the stern of the largest canoe, of a woman--
+evidently a personage of rank and importance.  The boys looked at her,
+as the boats slowly approached the islet, with great surprise and
+curiosity.  Her costume showed that she belonged to the same nation as
+the others, and her whole bearing and demeanour was that of a person
+familiarised by long habit with the scene and employment in which she
+was engaged But if it had not been for these circumstances, the boys
+would certainly have supposed that she was not a native of South Africa
+at all.  Her complexion, though somewhat darker than that of an
+Englishwoman, was many shades lighter than that of her companions; her
+hair and eyes were totally unlike theirs.  Her movements, easy and
+graceful as those of savages generally are, nevertheless exhibited an
+indefinable refinement, which was most perplexing to the spectators.
+
+Their attention, however, was soon directed to other matters.  All
+unconscious of the vicinity of strangers, the occupants of the boats and
+rafts glided noiselessly by the island, until they had reached the
+hippopotamuses, which were still lazily floating in the yellow waters;
+for the river, it may be observed in passing, well deserved its name.
+The huge animals scarcely seemed to notice the presence of the voyagers,
+whom they allowed to come close to them, without manifesting any
+symptoms of alarm.
+
+By and by the canoe, in which the female already described was seated,
+had reached the spot where the largest of the bulky herd--fully twelve
+feet in length, and the same in girth--was reclining!  She rose from her
+seat, lifting her figure to its full height, and then dexterously darted
+the barbed lance she carried into the body of the monster.  The instant
+she had done so, she resumed her seat, and the rowers nimbly plying
+their oars, shot off from the vortex caused by the writhings of the
+wounded beast, and made for the shore.  The girl bounded lightly on to
+the bank as the canoe approached it, holding in her hand the line, which
+was attached to the handle of the harpoon.  She was followed instantly
+by the rest of the crew, who, seizing the cord, held it fast with their
+united strength to prevent the escape of the hippopotamus.
+
+The latter had no sooner felt the wound than he dived, and commenced
+swimming under water, in the hope of ridding himself in that manner of
+his pursuers.  But the barbed point held fast, and his struggles only
+increased the acuteness of his sufferings.  He was soon obliged to rise
+again to the surface for air, and his reappearance was the signal of a
+recommencement of the attack.  Fresh harpoons were continually lodged in
+the quivering flesh; the yellow waters grew every moment redder with the
+blood, which poured from countless wounds; until, at last, even his huge
+strength was exhausted, and the hunters were able to draw the lifeless
+carcass to the shore.
+
+All this time the remainder of the herd had continued to paddle about,
+or lie basking in the sun within a short distance of the spot where the
+chase had been going on, wholly unconcerned, to all appearance, at what
+was passing.  The rowers now resumed their places, and the woman her
+seat in the stern, and the same scene was enacted again; but this time
+not with the same success.  The harpoon was thrown with equal skill, and
+firmly fixed in the animal's side; but before the boat could reach the
+shore, which at this point of the river lay at a considerable distance,
+it was attacked by the infuriated beast, which seemed more inclined to
+revenge the wound he had received, than make his escape from further
+injury.  He swam straight towards the canoe, which he overtook before it
+had gone many yards, and with a single blow from his formidable tusk,
+completely shattered its bottom.  It sank instantly, leaving its five
+occupants to escape to the land as they best might.  The monster glared
+round him as if seeking for the easiest victim, and perceiving that the
+female, who had been stationed in the bow, was the nearest to him, he
+made straight at her with his huge jaws expanded to their full width,
+and his deadly rows of teeth displayed.  Observing his approach, she
+dived, reappearing at the distance of a few yards, and swam swiftly for
+the island, which was the nearest point of land.  But the animal had
+been on the look out for her, and made a second rush, as soon as her
+head emerged from the water.  She dived a second time, and rose nearer
+to the islet; but her strength was evidently failing her, and the weight
+of her clothes dragged her down.  She struggled bravely, but could not
+get away from her pursuer.  In another minute the horrid jaws would, in
+all likelihood, have cut her in twain, if a shot, fired opportunely at
+this moment from the central clump of the eyot, had not pierced the
+unwieldy brute behind the shoulder, and passed directly into the vitals.
+With a loud snort of agony he turned over on his side, vomiting a
+torrent of blood, which stained the dull yellow stream a still duller
+crimson, and then floated helplessly down the current.
+
+Warley, from whose rifle this unexpected deliverance had come, now
+hurried down the bank to complete her rescue.  His attention, and that
+of De Walden, had been attracted to the noise on the river some time
+previously, and, catching his rifle, which he had taken the precaution
+of loading, Ernest hurried out to learn what was passing.  When he first
+caught sight of the scene, he was indisposed to interfere, thinking the
+hunters able to effect their own escape, and unwilling to betray the
+place where he and his friends had taken refuge; but as soon as the
+peril of the female voyager became evident to him, he hesitated no
+longer.  The other two lads now came hastening up, and between them they
+raised the woman, who was almost exhausted, from the water, and laid her
+on the bank.  The natives, who were astonished beyond measure at the
+apparition of the white men, stood motionless on the further bank, or on
+their rafts, not knowing what was about to happen next.
+
+The Englishmen on their sides were scarcely less astonished.  The reader
+has already heard the surprise with which Frank and Gilbert had noticed
+their female visitor; but they had only beheld her from a distance, and
+had had a very cursory view of her face and figure.  Now, however, they
+had leisure to take a closer survey.  She was apparently about eighteen
+years old, tall and beautifully formed, and with a natural dignity of
+demeanour which would have become a princess.  Her skin was somewhat
+darker than that of English ladies in ordinary, but, nevertheless, a
+very becoming colour mantled in her cheeks.  Her features were formed
+after the finest type of Greek beauty--the shape of the face oval, the
+nose straight and slightly _retrousse_, the forehead broad and low, the
+eyebrows beautifully arched over orbs of the darkest hazel.  Her hair,
+to complete the picture, bore no likeness at all to that of her
+attendants, but was glossy, long, and of a rich brown.
+
+Her dress was almost as great an enigma as her face.  It consisted of a
+kind of petticoat, or rather short gown, made of antelope skin, and
+edged with white fur, descending from her neck almost to her knees, and
+covering the arms about half-way to the wrist.  Her feet were protected
+by sandals, the thongs of which were wound crosswise up her legs, and
+secured by a leathern garter at the knees.  Round her waist she wore a
+girdle set with crimson beads and glittering stones.  Her head had no
+ornament, with the exception of some eagle's feathers fixed in the
+coronet of dark brown hair which surmounted her forehead.  Her
+appearance, in fact, was neither that belonging to civilised nor to
+savage life, but rather that of some high-born European lady, who had
+assumed, for some masquerading purpose, the costume of the desert.
+
+After resting for a few minutes on the sloping patch of turf where her
+rescuers had placed her, she appeared to recover her strength and
+self-possession, and to be anxious to bestow her thanks on the strangers
+who had come so opportunely to her rescue, but was at a loss how to
+express herself.  Warley and the others felt equally embarrassed.  At
+last, after a long pause, the former called to the missionary, who had
+remained behind in the arbour, too much occupied with the anxieties
+which were pressing on him to take heed of what was passing outside.
+
+"Will you be so good as to come here, Mr De Walden?" he cried.  "Here
+are some natives whom we cannot make understand us, but very likely they
+may understand you."
+
+A flash of intelligence passed over the girl's face as he spoke.
+
+"I understand you myself," she said.  "You are speaking English.  Are
+you Englishmen?"
+
+Her accent and words were those of an English lady.  Still more
+bewildered, Warley answered--
+
+"We are Englishmen, madam; and I need not say rejoiced to recognise a
+countrywoman, as we cannot doubt you are.  By what strange chance you
+have been conveyed hither--"
+
+"No," she interposed, "I am not an Englishwoman.  I was born in this
+land; but I am deeply interested in everything English.  If it pleases
+you to accompany me to our village, which is not very far distant from
+this, my mother will be greatly pleased to welcome you as her guests."
+
+The boys glanced at De Walden, who was standing by, regarding her
+attentively.  He now addressed her with much respect.  "You are the
+daughter, I presume," he said, "of the famous White Queen of the
+Basutos, of whom I have heard so much.  But I thought her dwelling was
+considerably further to the east."
+
+"Yes, I am the daughter of Queen Laura, or Lau-au, as our people call
+her.  My own name is Ella.  You are right as to our ordinary place of
+residence; but the cattle disease, which is raging in the east, has
+obliged us for awhile to shift our dwelling.  You, I conclude, are one
+of the white teachers whom my mother ever holds in honour.  She would
+gladly have received you, even if I had not owed my life to your friend.
+We will set out at once, if you please, as the evening is now
+advancing."
+
+She summoned her attendants, who had been watching this interview with
+looks of much curiosity, and the party were soon conveyed to the
+opposite shore.  Then desiring them to cut off as much of the flesh of
+the two slain hippopotamuses as could be conveniently carried with them,
+she set off, with two of her visitors walking on either hand, at a brisk
+pace, which an English lady would have found it difficult to maintain,
+but which did not appear at all to inconvenience their fair conductress.
+
+But the day's adventures were not yet concluded.  After walking for a
+mile or two, still along the banks of the river, Nick's restless spirit
+seemed to grow weary of the monotony of the journey.  He began to linger
+by the wayside; now to pick a flower that attracted his fancy; now to
+gather some of the fruit, of which there was plenty to be seen--figs and
+bananas, and ripe dates--now to examine some brilliant insect, or to
+chase some gorgeous butterfly.  On these occasions he allowed the party
+to get further and further in advance of him, until once or twice he was
+in danger of being left alone in the bush, to find, as best he might,
+the track pursued by his companions.
+
+On one of these occasions, after he had succeeded with considerable
+difficulty in plucking a delicious watermelon, which grew in a deep
+hollow, surrounded on all sides by thorn bushes, he discovered to his
+chagrin and alarm, that the rest of the party were by this time fairly
+out of sight and hearing; and the dense mass of tangled shrubs and
+creepers in front of him rendered it impossible to distinguish anything
+at the distance of a hundred yards.  He hurried on as fast as he could,
+in the direction which he supposed them to have taken, looking carefully
+round him for the marks of footsteps.  But these were nowhere to be
+distinguished.  Indeed all trace of a path seemed to have disappeared.
+A good deal alarmed, he stood still and shouted.  Presently he heard a
+halloo in answer, but in a direction different from that which he had
+been pursuing.  It evidently came from a considerable distance.  Nick
+felt there was no time to be lost, and hurried along with all the speed
+he could command, though the long grass much impeded his progress.  As
+he turned the corner of a thick mass of shrubs, he saw a figure which he
+recognised as that of De Walden advancing towards him, and holding up
+his hand, urging him, as he supposed, to rejoin the party as quickly as
+he could.  He started accordingly at a run, but had not advanced many
+yards when his foot caught against some obstacle which threw him forward
+on his face.  At the same moment there was a whirring noise, followed by
+a loud crash, and some heavy object struck the ground within a yard of
+him.  Almost immediately afterwards he heard De Walden's voice.
+
+"Another escape, Master Nick.  I wonder how many more you mean to have
+before you rejoin your friends.  If you had as many lives as a cat, you
+would lose them all at this rate."
+
+Nick got up, rubbing the green mud from his elbows and knees, and
+staring in wonder at the object the fall of which had so astonished him.
+An examination of it did not tend to remove his perplexity.  It was a
+large heavy piece of wood, shaped evidently by the axe, so as to
+resemble a rude arrow, but as thick as the mast of a large cutter.  To
+the end of this was attached an iron head of a corresponding size.  It
+had penetrated deep into the ground, and would have been sufficient to
+shatter Nick's skull like an icicle if it had come in contact with it.
+"Whatever can that be?" he exclaimed; "and how came it up there?"
+
+"A hippopotamus trap," said the missionary; "and it is a good job that
+it has not proved a man trap too.  You must not leave your companions in
+this wild country, Nick, or even your good luck won't keep you out of
+trouble.  I noticed the trap as we passed, and then perceived a minute
+or two afterwards that you were not with us.  It is fortunate I turned
+back and called you.  If you hadn't been running fast it might have
+caught your head, or at all events your leg."
+
+By this time they were rejoined by the rest of the party, and De Walden
+proceeded to explain to the boys the curious construction of the machine
+from which Nick had had so narrow an escape.  It was common enough, he
+told them, in the neighbourhood of the haunts of the hippopotamus.  The
+stem of a young tree, a foot or so in diameter, was cut off at the
+length of about four feet.  A strong and sharp iron head was fixed at
+one end, and at the other an eye, to which a string was attached.  This
+rude shaft was then hung up to the branch of a large tree immediately
+over the path by which the hippopotamuses were wont to go down to the
+river.  The string was passed over the branch, round a projecting root
+at the bottom of the tree, and straight across the path, being
+ultimately secured to a peg driven into the earth.  This string came
+into contact with the feet of the hippopotamus, which, in walking,
+shambles along, scarcely raising its legs from the ground.  The string
+being in this manner broken, the heavy beam instantly falls, usually
+striking the hippopotamus in the back, and penetrating the vitals.  The
+blow is almost always mortal.  Even if the animal is not killed on the
+spot, it is so badly wounded that it dies shortly afterwards.
+Sometimes, to make assurance doubly sure, Mr De Walden told them, the
+iron is steeped in poison.
+
+"There didn't need that," said Nick, as he contemplated the barbed
+point, as big as the fluke of an anchor, and sharp as an arrow.  "The
+iron head would have finished me off very handsomely, without troubling
+the poison-makers.  Well, I'll take care another time, as the children
+say, and I can't do more.  Let's be off now.  I want to get to our
+quarters for the night."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+THE BASUTO KRAAL--QUEEN LAURA--THE QUEEN'S NARRATIVE--THE WRECK OF THE
+GROSVENOR--SUFFERINGS OF THE SURVIVORS--THE BASUTO CHIEF--DE WALDEN'S
+JOY.
+
+Nightfall was near at hand, when the party approached the Basuto kraal;
+and the boys looked eagerly round them to see if they could discover any
+marked differences between it and the other native villages which they
+had visited.  Ella, as she had called herself, had hardly spoken a word
+during the whole journey.  A sudden shyness apparently having seized
+her, which was a curious contrast to the self-possession of her
+demeanour when she first encountered them.  To the questions addressed
+to her by Frank and Nick, she made very brief and seemingly reluctant
+replies, and they soon discontinued their inquiries.  But their
+curiosity was only heightened by the lady's unwillingness to satisfy it.
+It appeared that De Walden had heard something of a white Basuto Queen;
+but whence she came, or how she had attained to her kingdom, was a
+sealed mystery.  Perhaps she might be one of an English colony, which
+had established itself in these parts, and assumed a sovereignty over
+all the inhabitants round about But if so, it was strange that none of
+them should have heard from the Bechuanas, and especially from Kobo,
+anything about such a colony.  Well, at all events, a very short stay in
+the village would suffice to explain the mystery; probably, indeed, the
+first sight of it would be sufficient.
+
+But this did not prove to be the case.  The kraal was not very unlike
+those of the Bechuanas, and other neighbouring tribes.  The houses were
+constructed of wicker-work plaited with reed, and had the usual arched
+entrance, which served as door, window, and chimney.  There were the
+baskets and pails, the assegais, and bows and arrows, which usually
+stood in front of a Kaffir hut, or were hung against the central pole.
+The population, too, which had assembled, one and all, to witness the
+entry of the strangers, did not materially differ from the other
+inhabitants of the district.  The whole kraal, to be sure, had the
+appearance of having been constructed in haste, and only partially
+finished; but otherwise, our adventurers would hardly have known that
+they had entered the country of a new people.  As soon as they had
+entered the enclosure, Ella called up one of the natives, to whom she
+gave some orders in a tone that was not audible, and then, turning to
+her companions with a graceful bend of the head, she vanished into one
+of the neighbouring houses.  The Basuto to whom she had spoken, now
+stepped up to the Englishmen and invited them, by a gesture of the hand,
+to follow him.  They obeyed, and presently found themselves in a room
+which showed, for the first time, a real contrast to ordinary savage
+life.  It was a _room_, not the inside of a hut--a room perhaps fourteen
+feet square, hastily constructed of trees squared by the axe, and planks
+nailed horizontally to them, but a room, nevertheless, with ceiling,
+unglazed windows and doors, and carpeted with Kaffir matting.  There
+were even some rude chairs and a table in the centre.  Their guide
+pointed to these first, and then to a door opening into another
+apartment of about the same size, where some skins were spread on the
+floor.  "Eat here," he said; "sleep there."
+
+The first part of his speech was presently made good by the arrival of
+two Basutos, carrying some baskets, which contained rice, Indian corn,
+and several varieties of fruit.  These were placed in the middle of the
+table, and a wooden platter was assigned to each guest, who sat down to
+something like a regular meal for the first day for many months past.
+"I don't understand about this Queen," said Frank, as he pushed away his
+wooden plate.  "I remember my uncle told me that, beyond the limits of
+the Cape Colony, there were nothing but savages for hundreds and
+thousands of miles; and that it wasn't safe for white people to venture
+among them.  Who in the world can she be?"
+
+"You seemed to know something about her, sir," remarked Warley, turning
+to De Walden.  "Perhaps you can explain the mystery."
+
+"I know nothing more," said the missionary, "than that I sometimes
+heard, whilst living to the north of the Basuto country, that some
+hundreds of miles southwards, there was a tribe under the rule of a
+woman, whose race and colour was different from theirs, and who was
+generally believed to be an enchantress.  That, of course, was mere
+barbarous superstition, but the true facts of the case I never learned.
+We shall doubtless, however, soon hear them, as we were to be summoned
+to her presence as soon as we had partaken of food.  Ay, here, I
+suppose, comes the messenger to give us notice that she is ready to
+receive us."
+
+This conjecture proved to be correct, and in a few minutes they were
+ushered into the apartment, where the Queen of the Basutos sat in state
+to receive them.  It was similar in construction to the one they had
+just quitted, but larger, and with more attempt at ornament.  The
+ceiling was coloured white, relieved with green, and the walls a dark
+yellow; the latter exhibiting something like an attempt at panelling.
+At the further end was a kind of dais rising three steps, on the topmost
+of which stood a massive chair of ebony wood, and one smaller but of the
+same material by its side.  The floor was spread with Kaffir mats of gay
+patterns, while several articles belonging only to European
+civilisation--books, an inkstand, a writing-desk, and the like--were
+arranged on a large heavy table of the same material as the chair.  From
+the ceiling there hung a lamp, like those ordinarily used on board
+ships, and fed with oil, which diffused a very sufficient light
+throughout the apartment.  Behind the royal chair, and on either side
+down the room, were several Basutos, wearing dresses made of the skin of
+the koodoo, or the leche, and carrying light assegais in their hands.
+
+The Queen herself was a woman apparently between forty and fifty;
+bearing a strong resemblance to her daughter, but of a fairer
+complexion, her hair and eyes being also of a lighter brown.  She was
+picturesquely, even richly, dressed, in a kind of long tunic of scarlet
+cloth trimmed with swan's-down, over which she wore a robe of leopard
+skin; slippers and buskins of the same material as her gown, but thickly
+set with coloured beads and spangles.  A tiara, similarly ornamented and
+surmounted by ostrich feathers, completed her attire.
+
+She greeted her visitors as they moved up to her chair with graceful
+courtesy.
+
+"You are English, I am told?" she said, interrogatively; "if so, my
+countrymen, and the first I have beheld for six and twenty years.  But I
+have not forgotten the dear old language, in which, indeed, I and my
+daughter always converse, and it will delight us both to hear it from
+other lips beside our own."
+
+"Yes, madam," answered De Walden, "we are English--my three younger
+companions entirely so; while I am of English descent and English
+parentage on the father's side.  We thank you for your kind reception of
+us, which, it is needless to say, is most welcome after the toils and
+dangers we have undergone."
+
+"Your appearance is that of a missionary," rejoined the Queen.  "May I
+ask if that is the case, and if so, what is your name, and where have
+you of late been residing?"
+
+"I am a preacher of the Gospel," said De Walden, "and my name is
+Theodore De Walden.  I have been for many years in different parts of
+South Africa, both to the north and west of this land."
+
+"I have heard of you," said the Queen, "and have long been desirous of
+meeting with you, or some other of your calling.  I myself am by birth a
+member of the English Church, and still account myself one, though so
+long cut off from its ministrations."
+
+"The English Church--indeed!" exclaimed Warley.  "May we presume to ask
+how--how--"
+
+"How it comes that an English Churchwoman should be living in this wild
+country, so far from her native land, and the ruler of a barbarian
+tribe--that is what you would ask," said the Queen, smiling.  "Well, of
+course I knew you would wish to learn the particulars of my strange
+history, and it is perhaps as agreeable to me to relate, as it is to you
+to hear it.  Seat yourselves"--she beckoned to the attendants to bring
+forward chairs, as she spoke--"and I will tell you the whole tale."
+
+"I was born in one of the midland counties of England, and am the
+daughter of a man of good family, though at the time of my birth reduced
+in means.  He was a surgeon in a small country town, skilful and
+unwearied in his profession, but unable to realise any considerable
+income.  My mother died when I was about twelve years old, and as my
+father could not afford to keep any assistant, he was obliged to rely a
+good deal on my help, as I grew up, in making up his medicines, and
+occasionally attending cases of slight illness under his directions.
+When I was about seventeen, my father unexpectedly obtained a valuable
+appointment in India, in the Company's service, and thither we
+accordingly proceeded in the spring of the year 1778.
+
+"But the climate never agreed with him; and after persisting for two or
+three years in the vain hope of becoming habituated to it, his health
+altogether broke down, and he died, leaving me with a very slender
+provision.  I resolved at once to return to England, and solicit the
+help of my relatives there.  Some of them may still be living, and
+doubtless believe that I have long been dead.  It would only distress
+them if they were to learn the real facts, and I therefore shall not
+disclose my true name, or those indeed of any of the party.
+
+"I took my passage homeward by the _Grosvenor_, a fine vessel belonging
+to the East India Company's service.  It carried a great many
+passengers, mostly officers returning home, and a few civilians.  There
+were also several ladies, though none about my own age.  I remember,
+particularly, Colonel Harrison--so I will name him--an old friend of my
+father's, Major Piers, Captains Gilby and Andrewes, Mr Hickson, Mr
+Morgan, and Mr Gregg, as well as his sister, Mrs Gilby, Mrs
+Wilkinson, and Miss Hordern.  It is strange how well I can recall all
+their faces and persons at this interval of time.
+
+"The voyage was unusually quick and agreeable until we arrived off the
+coast of South Africa.  But there we encountered a gale so violent, that
+the ship soon became wholly unmanageable.  Everybody concurred in
+saying, that it was through no fault either of the captain or of the
+crew that the vessel was lost.  The wind drove her directly ashore, the
+anchors that were thrown out parted during the height of the storm, and
+there are no harbours anywhere along that coast for which vessels can
+run.  The end was that she was thrown upon a reef at no great distance
+from shore, and entirely broken up.
+
+"By the good management of the officers in command, the whole of the
+passengers, and nearly all the crew, were got into the boats and safely
+landed on the shore.  We were at first very thankful for our escape; but
+if we had known the fate that awaited nearly all of us, I think we
+should have preferred being swallowed up by the raging sea to undergoing
+it.  The sea-coast at that point consists of long stretches of sandy
+beach, overgrown at a short distance from the sea by thick scrub and
+underwood, while further inland are dense and almost impassable forests.
+Our first step was to provide ourselves with some shelter against the
+wind and rain which continued unabated for several days.  By the help of
+the carpenter's chest, and the various articles which were thrown ashore
+from the wreck, we soon established ourselves comfortably enough.  Huts
+were run up in which the whole of the party were lodged, hunting parties
+organised, and then a general meeting was summoned to determine what
+steps were to be taken to deliver ourselves from the embarrassing
+position in which we were placed.
+
+"I remember there was great difference of opinion.  Some proposed to
+build a barque out of the remains of the _Grosvenor_, sufficiently large
+to convey the whole party round to Table Bay.  The distance, it was
+reckoned, was six or seven hundred miles.  We might easily row or sail
+on an average forty or fifty miles a day.  And even if Cape Town should
+be too far to be so reached, we should be safe to come to some of the
+villages scattered here and there along the coast, which kept up some
+kind of communication with the interior.  Others urged our continuing in
+our present quarters until we succeeded in attracting the attention of
+some passing vessel.  Others, again, proposed a plan compounded of
+these.  One of the small boats was to be repaired sufficiently to allow
+two or three of the most experienced sailors to go in search of help for
+the whole party.
+
+"On the whole, I believe the last-named suggestion would have had the
+best chance of success.  Any one of the three would certainly have been
+preferable to the one adopted, and which had in the first instance been
+proposed by the Captain himself, viz., that the whole of the party
+should make their way overland to the nearest inhabited district.  This
+was strongly opposed by Colonel Harrison and old Mr Hickson; the former
+of whom warned us, that the attempt would probably result in the
+destruction of all.  But there were among the passengers, as well as
+among the junior officers of the ship, a number of hot-headed
+adventurous spirits, to whom such a journey, as that designed, had an
+irresistible charm.  We all set out; but after a few days of suffering,
+all the women and most of the men returned to the coast, while the
+others went on.
+
+"I have been told that some at least of this party succeeded after a
+long and hazardous journey in reaching the Dutch settlements at Cape
+Town.  I suppose that must be so, because I learned, some years
+afterwards, that all the particulars of the loss of the _Grosvenor_ were
+known to the Dutch authorities, and I do not know how they could have
+learned anything on the subject except from my fellow-passengers.  I
+have also been told that a party was sent out to search for any
+survivors of the ill-fated ship.  If that was so, they never came near
+the spot where I was living.
+
+"We saw our companions depart with very mingled feelings.  The
+confidence of their leaders had inspired some of us with hope, while
+others were very despondent.  This despondency was increased when, a few
+days after their departure, Captain Gilby and Mr Gregg, returning from
+a shooting expedition, reported that they had seen armed savages in the
+neighbourhood of the huts, prowling about, evidently with no friendly
+intentions towards us.  It was immediately resolved to protect the
+building with a palisade; beyond which the ladies were never to venture
+without an armed escort, and to keep two of the men always on guard
+inside the stockade with loaded muskets.  But these precautions were of
+little avail.  Several of our small party were, from time to time,
+captured or wounded by the natives; and all who were thus injured
+expired soon afterwards in great agonies from the poison, in which the
+weapons of the savages had been steeped.  Two or three of the women also
+died, partly of insufficient food, and partly of anxiety and alarm.  At
+last the whole party was reduced to four men and five women; and we then
+held a consultation to decide what was to be done.
+
+"It was impossible to defend the stockade, with our reduced numbers.  It
+was idle to hope for rescue.  It would be still more useless to
+surrender to the savages, who would observe no terms, even should they
+be induced to agree to any.  The only possible hope lay in flight.  If
+we stole out of the palisades by night, and took ourselves off in
+different directions through the depths of the forest, it was just
+possible that some of us might escape the notice of our enemies.  We
+divided into three parties, Captain Gilby, his wife, and Mrs Wilkinson
+chose the path by the seashore; Captain Piers, Mr and Miss Gregg,
+endeavoured to follow the route taken by the party several weeks before;
+while Colonel Harrison took Miss Hordern and myself under his charge.
+The Colonel had some knowledge of the colony, and knew that the best
+hope of escape lay towards the north, where there were but few tribes
+located, and an almost endless screen of forest.
+
+"We took leave of one another only an hour after we had come to this
+resolution, as the danger was growing every moment more imminent.  I
+never heard with any certainty what became of the rest of the party; but
+a report once reached me that Miss Gregg (so I call her, though, as I
+have said before, I give none of the real names), after the murder of
+her brother and Captain Piers, had to submit to something of the same
+fate as myself.  But this was only a rumour.  Of the fate of Captain
+Gilby and his wife, I never heard anything.
+
+"As regards ourselves, we were fortunate enough entirely to escape
+pursuit, and after three days of intense anxiety and fatigue, had
+reached a part of the forest which lay beyond the haunts of the tribes,
+by which we had been attacked.  We were now compelled to rest awhile,
+and recover our strength.  But though Miss Hordern and myself, who were
+both of us of a hardy constitution, soon rallied from the fatigues we
+had undergone, the old Colonel could not.  He grew daily weaker in spite
+of all our care of him, and at last died, to our inexpressible grief.
+We laid his remains in an empty pit which we had found, and filled it in
+as well as we could, with clods and stones.  We then set off--two poor
+desolate women--to find our way as well as we could to some place of
+shelter.
+
+"The toil we underwent, and the perils, which by a miracle we contrived
+to avoid, would fill a volume, if I were to relate them.  But it will be
+enough to say that, after endless wanderings, we found ourselves at last
+somewhere about fifty or sixty miles from the banks of the Gariep--at no
+very great distance, in fact, from this present spot.  We had subsisted
+chiefly on the fruits that grow in abundance throughout the whole of the
+country, and were beginning to hope that, after all, we might reach the
+outlying Dutch farms of which Colonel Harrison had spoken, when another
+calamity befell us.  Miss Hordern and myself were one day suddenly
+surprised by a party of Basutos, who had gone out on a shooting
+expedition to the valley of the Vaal.  We instantly took to flight, but
+before we had gone fifty yards, Miss Hordern was struck by an arrow, and
+the wound proved almost instantly fatal.  I stopped as soon as I saw her
+fall, and took her in my arms, too much distressed by this last
+misfortune to heed my own danger.
+
+"What the pursuers would have done to me, I do not know.  But when I
+recovered from the swoon of grief into which I had fallen over the body
+of my dead friend, I saw a tall and noble-looking warrior bending over
+me, his fine eyes and manly features expressing a sympathy for my
+affliction, which I should have supposed a savage to be incapable of
+feeling.  He gave some orders to his men, in a language which I did not
+comprehend, and I was immediately carried into a hut, and carefully
+waited on by several women.  I was ill a long time, but every day my
+warrior came to visit me, and gradually I picked up enough of the Basuto
+language to exchange a few sentences with him.  I soon perceived the
+light in which he viewed me, and it was not unwelcome--strange as such
+an idea would have appeared to me a few weeks before.  But I was worn
+out by harsh usage, he alone having shown me kindness; and my utter
+helplessness made me inclined to lean on any friendly arm.  He was, too,
+one of the noblest and most generous characters I have ever met with,
+and his instinctive delicacy of feeling rendered him all the more
+attractive in my eyes.  I consented to be his wife, conditionally on his
+taking no others, and to this he readily agreed, for, I believe, no
+woman but myself ever had any charm for him.
+
+"We were married according to the Basuto forms; but at my desire we also
+recited the vow of husband and wife, according to the marriage service
+of the English Church, and for ten years lived happily together.  I
+should mention that I found the medical knowledge I had acquired in my
+girlhood of the greatest benefit to my newly adopted countrymen.
+Several times, when epidemic fevers, common to this country, broke out,
+I was successful in treating them, and my husband's authority enabled me
+to enforce regulations, which otherwise I could not have induced the
+people to observe.  When my husband was killed, some fifteen years ago,
+by the sudden fall of a tree, the tribe insisted on making me their
+Queen; and nothing has ever seriously disturbed the prosperity of my
+reign.  Ella, who was born a few years after our marriage, is our only
+surviving child.
+
+"Such is my history--a strange one, no doubt.  Probably most persons
+would regard me as an object of pity, to say the least.  But I do not
+share the opinion.  I have had, in my way, much happiness; and, if I
+have been deprived of privileges and blessings, which fall ordinarily to
+the lot of Englishwomen, have also escaped many sorrows and trials, to
+which in my own country I should have been exposed.
+
+"But there are two points on which I should like to say something before
+I conclude.  I dare say you have thought it strange that I did not
+communicate with my countrymen at Cape Town, when the colony fell into
+their hands.  But news travels so slowly in these wild and distant
+regions, that I did not know with any certainty what had taken place
+till long after the occurrence.  Then, my husband's death for the time
+drove all other thoughts from my mind; and when I had regained my
+composure enough to attend once more to the affairs of my kingdom, and I
+sent an embassy to the English Governor, I found that the colony had
+been given back to the Dutch.
+
+"The other matter is a more important one.  I should be sorry for you,
+Mr De Walden, to think that I made no effort to induce my husband to
+adopt Christianity as his creed.  It was a subject on which we often
+talked, and though he was slow to accept ideas so wholly new, yet they
+gradually grew upon him, and before his death he was a convert to
+Christ.
+
+"No Christian minister ever came into our neighbourhood during the whole
+of our married life, or he would doubtless have gladly welcomed him, and
+received baptism at his hands.  As it was, I myself administered the
+rite to him, when I saw that he was dying.
+
+"I have done my best to bring up Ella in our faith, and to teach what I
+could to others round me; but I hail your coming--the first preacher of
+the Gospel I have encountered in this land--with the utmost
+thankfulness, and trust you will remain among us as our teacher and
+guide, assured that all the help and countenance that I can give shall
+be most willingly and gladly bestowed."
+
+She ceased, and De Walden, who had listened to her story with profound
+interest, hastened to make answer.
+
+"Be assured, gracious lady, that I will most cheerfully obey your
+wishes.  The hand of God is too plainly seen in what has occurred for me
+to venture to refuse, even were I so inclined; but earnestly as I have,
+for years past, been seeking for an opening like this, and always
+hitherto having failed to obtain it, I cannot be thankful enough to the
+merciful Providence, which has at last been pleased to hearken to my
+prayers."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+LIFE IN THE BASUTO KRAAL--A GIRAFFE HUNT--AN UNEXPECTED INTERFERENCE--
+ERNEST AND ELLA--ERNEST'S EMBARRASSMENT.
+
+De Walden soon discovered that Queen Laura had not overstated her
+friendly feelings towards him and his companions.  Not only was every
+provision made for their comfort, but a large building was set apart for
+the special purposes of a missionary school and chapel.  Here such of
+the Basuto children as were allowed by their parents to receive
+instruction from the English teachers were instructed for two or three
+hours every day; while morning and evening prayers were regularly
+offered up by the missionary, which all were invited to attend.  The
+Queen did not directly order the people to send their children to the
+school thus opened, but it was known that she approved of it, and her
+popularity with the tribe was so great that very few held back.
+
+The afternoons were usually given up to the more especial education of
+Ella; who, though she had been taught by her mother to read and write,
+and had studied the few English books which had been saved from the
+wreck of the _Grosvenor_, was of course greatly behind English girls of
+her age in respect of knowledge.  De Walden undertook her religious
+instruction, and gave her besides some general lessons in history and
+grammar, but was obliged, by lack of time, to hand over arithmetic and
+geography to Warley, who, fresh from a good English school, was well
+acquainted with both.  Such an arrangement would have been a somewhat
+questionable one in an English family; but here, in the heart of the
+African wilderness, its awkwardness was not felt, and Ella's extreme
+simplicity of mind prevented any embarrassments which might otherwise
+have arisen.
+
+So passed several weeks, with scarcely anything to distinguish one day
+from another.  In the morning De Walden and Warley, assisted generally
+by Ella, taught the village children to read, write, and cipher; then
+came the mid-day meal, when the whole party dined at the Queen's table;
+after that there were Ella's lessons, lasting two or three hours; then
+some excursion on horseback (for the Queen owned a large stud of
+horses), or on the river, when the lads took their rifles with them, and
+seldom returned without a goodly supply of game of one kind or another.
+During these expeditions, Ella would continually ply her companions with
+questions respecting English life, and especially the habits of English
+ladies, in which she took a deep and ever-increasing interest; and
+Warley, at least, was never tired of satisfying her curiosity.  In the
+evenings there was the second meal, and after that De Walden or Warley
+read aloud; or the Queen and the missionary would talk over the Europe,
+and especially the England, of their young days, of which both
+entertained so vivid a remembrance.  It was strange to think that a life
+so nearly resembling that of an English home, could be carried out at a
+distance of more than seven thousand miles from it, and amid the depths
+of an uncultivated wilderness!
+
+Meanwhile nothing could be learned respecting Kobo's movements.  A
+messenger had been despatched to the village, in which Queen Laura
+usually resided, it being supposed that Kobo had repaired thither in
+search of her.  But the Basuto had returned in four or five days, with
+the information that nothing had been seen or heard of the missing man.
+A party of white men, it was however reported, had been seen travelling
+somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Vaal, and it was thought that Kobo
+might have joined them.  Further inquiries were set on foot, as soon as
+this information was received, as to who these white men were, and
+whence they had come; but it was found impossible to obtain any
+trustworthy tidings respecting them.  If there ever had been any such
+persons in the vicinity of the Gariep, at all events they had long since
+departed, and no one knew whither.
+
+It was now again the season of early summer, and the shrubs and flowers
+were in their full freshness and beauty.  It was resolved to gratify
+Nick and Frank (who were beginning to find life in the Basuto kraal
+exceedingly dull and wearisome) with some sport, which they had not yet
+witnessed.  In particular, they were anxious to see the giraffe hunted;
+and it having been reported that a large herd of these animals had been
+seen browsing in a kloof at no great distance, a party was formed for
+going in chase of them on the ensuing day.  The Queen had desisted from
+the sports of the field for two or three years past, and De Walden could
+not afford, at the present juncture, to lose even a day with his
+scholars.  But all the others joined the expedition, accompanied by the
+Princess Ella, who in the use of the bow and arrow was as skilful as any
+warrior of the tribe.  They were all mounted on fleet steeds, especially
+trained to the pursuit of the giraffe; for to horses not so broken in,
+the scent of the camelopard is so offensive that they cannot be induced
+to approach it.
+
+It was a fine fresh morning.  The horsemen, eight in number, were
+attended by a much larger company of Basutos on foot, whose business it
+was to spread themselves in all directions over the woodland, and drive
+the gigantic animals towards the spot where the horsemen were lying in
+ambush.  These accordingly dispersed, north, east, and west; while the
+riders, in groups of two or three, repaired to their appointed station.
+
+"Were you fond of riding when in your own country, Ernest?" asked the
+princess, as they cantered lightly side by side over the mossy turf.
+
+"I seldom had the opportunity," answered Warley.  "Horses are costly,
+both to buy and to keep, in England, and I was not rich, you know."
+
+"Not rich!  How strange it seems to me, to hear you say that!  It seems
+to me that the very poorest in England must be far richer than my mother
+or myself.  All the things that appear to me to be really valuable are
+within the reach of every one there, so at least I gather from what you
+have told me; while we can obtain none of them, even though we gave all
+we had for their possession."
+
+"Viewing things in that light, what you say is true, Ella.  But you have
+advantages which few in England possess.  You have influence and power
+over others--"
+
+"Ah, I understand, and you will teach us how to use these rightly.  I
+rejoice every day more and more that you have come among us."
+
+"And I am not less glad, Ella, believe me."
+
+"You!--you glad to be here, Ernest?  What! far away from your home and
+friends, in a wild and strange land like this?  You are jesting,
+surely."
+
+"Indeed I am not, Ella.  I would not be back in England, if a wish could
+place me there."
+
+Ella would have replied, but they had now reached the spot where they
+had agreed to assemble, and the rest of the party joined them.  It was
+an open glade, of perhaps an acre in extent, in the heart of a thickly
+wooded country.  For the most part, the trees were not more than ten or
+twelve feet high, though here and there oomahaamas and baobabs were to
+be seen, the former towering to a great height against the sky--the
+latter of enormous girth, sixty or eighty feet at the least--their
+trunks resembling large columns of granite, in the grey colour and rough
+surface they presented.  It was in the midst of a group of these that
+the party now assembled; the massy stems and dense foliage effectually
+screening them from view, though they could themselves see the whole
+country round them.  Presently a distant sound was heard, like that of
+trampling hoofs, which grew louder and louder, until the elegant
+tapering necks of a dozen giraffes came into sight, as they raced along
+with the gallop which appears so graceful until the legs come into
+sight, and then so clumsy and confused.  On they sped, balancing their
+lengthy bodies anew, as it appeared, every time they laid leg to the
+ground, and whisking their tufted tails from side to side, as though to
+stimulate themselves to fresh exertions.
+
+As soon as the herd had entered the open glade, the horsemen broke
+cover, and galloped after them, hoping to approach them sufficiently
+near to be able to strike them with their spears or arrows.  But the
+animals caught the flash of the first assegai that issued from under the
+baobabs, and wheeling instantly round, continued their career at more
+headlong speed than before.  The only chance now lay in riding them
+down; and this might be accomplished with the trained horses ridden by
+the party, though only after a furious gallop of many miles.  As if
+aware of this possibility, and anxious to avoid it as much as possible,
+the giraffes now no longer kept together in a single herd, but fled in
+different directions, only two or three remaining in company, and
+several galloping singly off through the forest paths.  As the natural
+consequence of this, the pursuers also broke up in smaller bands; and by
+and by, Warley and Ella found themselves separated from the rest, and
+riding at full speed in pursuit of one of the largest giraffes, which
+was making for a long stretch of open down, lying beyond the woodland.
+They were both mounted on strong and spirited horses, and being light
+weights, were enabled to keep the animal in sight for the first mile, in
+which it usually succeeds in distancing its pursuers.
+
+"Keep on, Ernest," said Ella, encouragingly, "we shall soon begin to
+gain upon him.  Can you fire from the saddle?  If so, you will get a
+shot before me.  My bow will not carry nearly the distance of your
+rifle."
+
+"Yes, I can fire pretty steadily from a horse's back now," returned
+Warley, "especially when I am on Sultan, as I call him.  I have had a
+good deal of practice lately."
+
+"That is well," said Ella.  "The country will change in a few minutes
+now, and we shall be out of the bush.  The giraffe is already abating
+his speed.  We shall gain on him every minute now."
+
+Ella's words were soon made good.  As they emerged from the woody cover,
+the animal's strength began perceptibly to fail.  They were soon within
+two hundred yards of him, and drawing closer with every stride of their
+horses.  Ella now bent her bow, and took an arrow from the quiver slung
+behind her, while Warley disengaged his rifle and cocked it.  When they
+had approached within fifty yards, he thought he might venture to fire.
+Even should he fail in mortally wounding the camelopard, he was pretty
+sure of hitting it somewhere, and the loss of blood would gradually
+diminish the creature's strength.  He levelled accordingly, and drew the
+trigger, just as they were nearing a pile of rocks on which a quantity
+of bushes were growing.  The moment after the report of his piece had
+been heard, the animal suddenly recoiled, and seemed to be on the point
+of falling.  Ernest pushed on to finish it with a second shot, but as he
+rode up abreast of it, a fierce roar burst from behind an angle of rock,
+and a lion of the largest size sprang on the back of the giraffe.
+Almost immediately afterwards a second appeared, and seized the
+unfortunate animal in the neck and chest.  Under the pressure of their
+weight it was unable to continue its flight.  It plunged violently,
+making desperate, but wholly ineffectual, efforts to shake off its
+tormentors, and tearing up the earth with its hoofs.  But in less time
+than it takes to tell it, the giraffe was borne to the ground, feebly
+gasping out its life under the merciless claws and teeth of its
+assailants.
+
+Meanwhile the horses had been almost as much terrified by the sudden
+apparition of the monarchs of the forest, as the camelopard itself.
+That which carried Ella rushed frantically off at a speed, which she was
+at first unable to check.  Warley's steed sprang on one side, with an
+abruptness which dislodged its rider, who had dropped the rein,
+preparing for a second shot.  Warley was thrown to the ground, his rifle
+falling several yards in advance of him; and the frightened animal
+galloped off at its utmost speed.  Ernest was left in a most dangerous
+position.  The lions having torn their prey down, did not proceed
+immediately to devour it, but glared round them, as though anticipating
+the approach of another enemy.  Warley lay at the distance of only a few
+yards, his figure fully exposed to the view of the angry monsters, which
+stood over the carcass of the giraffe, lashing their flanks with their
+tails, and sending up roar after roar, each seeming more savage than the
+last.  Ernest dared not move hand or foot; his instinct, rather than his
+reason, told him that his only hope lay in the lions believing him to be
+really dead, in which case they would not probably trouble themselves
+about him.
+
+He lay thus for nearly a quarter of an hour, the sun beating fiercely
+down on his unprotected head, for his cap had been dislodged in the
+fall, contemplating the huge brutes through his half-shut eyes.  At the
+end of that time his ear caught the twang of a bow from the adjoining
+thicket, and the nearest lion leapt into the air with an arrow sticking
+in his breast, while the second lion bounded off and disappeared behind
+the rocks.  Before Ella could discharge a second missile, the wounded
+beast had charged her; and her horse, which was snorting with terror,
+and had with the greatest difficulty been forced back to the scene of
+the encounter, stumbled in its blind haste over the root of a tree,
+rolling over its rider.
+
+Ella was in even greater danger than Ernest had been.  She lay at the
+distance of a few yards from her fallen steed, bruised and breathless.
+The lion paused for a minute, seeming uncertain as to which of his
+fallen enemies he meant to spring upon.  That moment of indecision saved
+the princess's life.  Ernest recovered his rifle the moment the lion's
+attention was withdrawn from him, and now fired his second barrel at the
+distance of only a few yards, into the shoulder of the monster, just a
+few inches from the place where Ella's arrow was sticking.  It was
+levelled at exactly the right spot.  The limbs, which were just
+crouching for the spring, suddenly collapsed, and the terrible enemy
+fell lifeless in the dust.
+
+Warley now ran up and took the lifeless form of Ella into his arms,
+endeavouring, by every means he could think of, to restore its
+animation.  He chafed her cold hands, he loosened the clasp which had
+confined her dress at the neck; and finding these efforts vain, carried
+her in his arms to a small spring, which rose hard by, and threw water
+into her face.  This last remedy presently took effect.  The princess
+opened her eyes with a long sigh, and looked confusedly round her.
+
+"Where am I?" she exclaimed feebly.  Then, as her glance lighted on the
+face of Ernest bending anxiously over her, and the figure of the dead
+lion, lying at the distance of a few yards, the whole occurrence seemed
+to come back to her memory.
+
+"Oh, Ernest," she exclaimed, "the lion!  You saved me, then.  Are you
+not hurt yourself?"
+
+"I have escaped with only a bruise or so," said Warley; "and it is you
+who have saved me, not I you.  Are you sure the fall from the horse has
+not injured you?"
+
+"No, that was nothing," returned Ella, colouring under the earnestness
+of his gaze.  "I threw myself from his back as he fell, and he did not
+touch me.  I don't think he is hurt either.  If we can catch the horses,
+we had better rejoin the party.  The skins of the giraffe and lion will
+be a valuable prize."
+
+Warley soon caught Ella's horse, and then went in search of his own,
+which he found grazing quietly at the distance of two or three hundred
+yards.  They mounted and galloped off in quest of Wilmore and Gilbert,
+encountering them and the Basutos in attendance in about half an hour,
+and finding them greatly vexed at their ill success.  The giraffes had
+galloped up the side of a long slope of hill, which gave them so great
+an advantage, that when the horsemen reached the summit of the range,
+the herd were quite out of sight, and after several ineffectual attempts
+to regain the scent, they were obliged to abandon the pursuit.  They
+heard of Ella's and Ernest's success with equal surprise and
+satisfaction, and hurrying off in the direction indicated, were soon
+engaged in flaying the hides off both animals, as well as in selecting
+the choicest morsels of the camelopard's flesh to supply the Queen's
+table.
+
+Late in the evening the party returned to the kraal, where they were
+welcomed by the Queen and De Walden, who questioned them as to what had
+taken place during the hunt.  But neither Ella nor Warley seemed
+inclined to say more than they could help on the subject.  The truth
+was, that a feeling of mutual liking had been growing up between the two
+since the first day of their meeting; when the princess had owed her
+life to Warley's promptitude.  The attachment was little to be wondered
+at under the circumstances.  Warley was now in his one-and-twentieth
+year--a fine well-grown young man, with a face of rare intelligence.  He
+was the first Englishman who had come under Ella's notice; and when
+contrasted with the dark-skinned and coarse-visaged Basutos, he seemed
+like a being from some higher sphere.  On the other hand, Ella's rare
+grace and beauty, her exquisite simplicity and frankness, were the
+qualities most likely to captivate a youth of Ernest's imaginative
+temperament; and the wild freedom of the life, by which they were
+surrounded, only added to the charm.  But though he was conscious of the
+fascination, which was daily growing stronger, Warley felt perplexed and
+uncomfortable.  He could not turn hunter, and live all his life in these
+remote solitudes.  But to take Ella with him, to England or elsewhere,
+as his wife, was wholly impracticable, so far as he could see.  How
+could he maintain her?  How induce others to receive her?  What would
+his friends say to such an alliance? or indeed to his forming any
+alliance at all?  The life which had been arranged for him--that of a
+clerk in a house at Calcutta--it seemed impossible that Ella could share
+that.  The idea of marrying Ella was, in fact, little better than a wild
+dream.
+
+On the other hand, if Ella was not to be his wife, he ought not to
+remain in the Basuto village.  There could be no doubt that they were
+getting to like one another--to speak the plain truth, they were both
+already deeply in love Ella did not think it necessary to disguise her
+feelings, as an English girl would have done; and though she was modest
+and maidenly, showed her preference plainly enough.  Every day of their
+mutual intercourse did but deepen the feeling.  If it was to end in
+nothing, he ought to go away at once.
+
+But how was he to go away?  It was true that Frank and Nick had long
+been anxious to set out on a journey to Cape Town, and he might go with
+them.  De Walden, of course, would remain with Queen Laura, and
+prosecute his missionary work.  He would be sorry to lose Warley no
+doubt, and so probably would Queen Laura; but neither would in all
+likelihood interpose any serious obstacle.  There were, however, what
+seemed insuperable objections.
+
+In the first place, they were bound to await Lavie's return.  Queen
+Laura had despatched a messenger to Chuma, with a friendly message soon
+after their arrival in her dominions, and had entreated him to send to
+her any tidings that might be received from the white men.  A favourable
+answer had been brought back from the Bechuana chief.  The rainmaker had
+been killed, and as soon as he was dead, the truth as to the origin of
+the cattle disease had been disclosed by the natives, who had been aware
+of the facts from the first, but afraid to tell them.  Chuma saw how he
+had been deceived as to the white man's truth and honesty, and was
+sincerely grieved at having so misused him.  He promised that as soon as
+Lavie, or any emissary from him should appear, the tidings should be at
+once forwarded to the Basutos.  These might now be looked for every day.
+It was strange that they had not arrived long before.  If, then, Warley
+and the others were to set out for Cape Town now, they would inevitable
+miss the expected messengers, and might not see their friends for
+months, instead of for a few days only.  Then there was Kobo.  It was
+not at all certain that he was not still on the search for them.  It
+would be a breach of faith if they were to leave him in the lurch; and
+after all his exertions in their behalf, this was not to be thought of.
+And, lastly, if Mr Lavie should not be at Cape Town when they arrived--
+and the chances were very greatly against his being there--there was no
+one to whom he could appeal for help or maintenance, excepting his
+brother.  And the idea of applying to him was so repulsive, that he felt
+he would rather do anything than resort to it.  No.  Departure from the
+Basuto village was impossible at the present crisis.  He must wait
+patiently, for a few weeks more, at all events.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+FRANK AND NICK REBEL--A HAZARDOUS DETERMINATION--A SUDDEN DEPARTURE--A
+WOUNDED BUFFALO--OMINOUS SOUNDS--RESCUE AT THE LAST MOMENT.
+
+Of all the party, De Walden was now the only one who was contented to
+remain in his present position.  He was, indeed, in a more contented
+frame of mind than any he had enjoyed since he first entered the Cape
+Colony.  It seemed as if his wishes, so long frustrated, had on a sudden
+received their full accomplishment--as though the seed he had been
+vainly sowing for so many years, had sprung up to ripeness in an hour.
+Not only had he his band of regular worshippers, who every Sunday
+publicly attended his ministrations; not only had he his school filled
+with boys and girls, learning, with an intelligence which would hardly
+have been found among European children of the same age, the rudiments
+of Christianity--but there were several adult converts, who were so far
+advanced that they were almost ready to receive baptism; and many more,
+though they had not openly given in their adhesion to the new doctrines,
+were gravely and seriously considering the matter.  If things should
+continue to go on as favourably as at present, such an impression would
+be made in the course of a few months on the whole tribe, as could
+hardly fail to end in their open profession of Christianity.  De Walden
+had seen much of life--much in particular of missionary life; and felt
+inwardly assured that he would not be permitted to accomplish so great a
+work, without strong and determined opposition.  He marvelled at his
+success from day to day; but meanwhile it was his duty to go on in
+faith, thankful for the mercy shown so far, and prepared to face the
+reverse, as soon as it should appear.
+
+Ernest Warley, we have seen, felt perplexed and embarrassed by his
+position as regarded Ella; but the Basuto village had, nevertheless, an
+attraction for him, which would have made it full of delightful and
+absorbing interest, if his conscience had not every day pricked him more
+keenly as to the mischief he was unwillingly doing.  But Wilmore and
+Gilbert, who had not the same sources of interest as either De Walden or
+Warley, began at last find their sojourn so intolerably wearisome, that
+they to could no longer endure it.  "I tell you what it is, Frank," said
+Gilbert one day, when they had lain down to rest, under the shade of a
+large oomahaama overshadowing their hut, after an hour's practice at
+throwing the assegai, with which sport they had endeavoured to relieve
+the tedium of an idle morning--"I tell you what it is; if I stay here
+much longer, I shall go downright melancholy mad.  They can't put me
+into an asylum, because, I suppose, there are no articles of that kind
+to be met with hereabouts.  But they'll have to appoint keepers, and
+extemporise a straight waistcoat of rhinoceros hide, and shave my head,
+and all the rest of it."
+
+"I am pretty nearly as bad as you are, Nick," returned Wilmore.
+"There's De Walden for ever teaching those niggers, and there's Ernest
+for ever dangling about Ella; and very pleasant I dare say, they find
+it.  But you and I don't particularly fancy young darkies, and haven't
+any girls to talk to, seeing Miss Ella has no ears for any one but
+Ernest.  I am tired of trying to learn Basuto, or to throw an assegai,
+or shoot with one of their bows and arrows, which are about big enough
+for a child of ten years old.  If we could only go out with our guns
+every day--"
+
+"We are not to go out again," interrupted Nick.  "The powder's running
+so very short, that there are not above a dozen charges left.  So we
+must learn assegai throwing and archery, if we mean to have any sport in
+future."
+
+"I shall never make a hand at either," said Frank.  "A fellow must be
+born to it, to knock things over as these Basutos do.  Well, I agree
+with you, I don't think I can stand this much longer, without going
+stark crazy."
+
+"Suppose we _don't_ stand it, Frank," suggested Gilbert.  "It quite
+rests with ourselves.  No one can compel us."
+
+"I don't quite understand you," said Wilmore.  "How can we help
+ourselves?"
+
+"By taking ourselves off," answered the other.
+
+"Look here.  They say we ought to remain until the messengers return
+that were sent to Cape Town, and that it would be hard upon Lavie, if he
+were to come here and find us gone.  Very good.  But De Walden and
+Warley both mean to remain with Queen Laura; so that whenever he may
+come (if he _does_ come) he will find them, and that will answer every
+purpose.  But you and I may go our way, and leave them to go theirs."
+
+"What! you propose that we two should set off for Cape Town alone, hey?
+Could we find our way, think you?"
+
+"I don't see why we shouldn't.  We know the exact position of Cape Town,
+and the pocket compass, which Lavie gave me, will enable us to go at all
+events in the right direction.  It will take a long time, no doubt--"
+
+"Three or four months, at least," said Wilmore.
+
+"About that, I judge," rejoined Gilbert.  "But then we shall be
+tolerably sure to fall in with some Dutch village or farm before we have
+got half-way; and the Dutch are hospitable, though not civil to the
+English.  They couldn't turn us out into the wilderness, anyhow."
+
+"No, I suppose not," said Frank, "particularly as we have got money to
+pay for what we want.  But then, Nick, how are we to subsist till we
+reach one of these villages or farms.  The nearest, I believe, are fully
+two hundred miles off, if we went ever so straight.  With only six
+charges in our guns--"
+
+"We must reserve our fire for great emergencies," interrupted Nick.  "I
+have my knife, any way, and we have learned something by this time,
+remember, and know where to find the roots and fruits these fellows eat.
+Besides, it's the season for birds' eggs now, and there'll be heaps of
+them."
+
+"Yes, and we can take a lot of mealeys with us," added Wilmore.  "They
+will go into a small compass and last a long time.  Well, Nick, I don't
+mind, if I go in for this with you.  So far as I can see, we may wait
+here, day after day, for the next twelvemonth; and I'd rather take my
+chance of being devoured alive by the wild beasts, or knocked on the
+head by the savages, than have to go through that.  When do you propose
+that we should make a start?"
+
+"Well, we must first of all lay in a store of mealeys--I always meant to
+take them: and I should like to get out of De Walden the nearest way to
+the banks of the Gariep.  I've an idea that if we could reach that, we
+might make another raft like that on which we made our voyage to the
+island, and float on it till we came to the place where we were carried
+away by the flood.  We should both know that again."
+
+"That's not a bad idea, Nick.  We should find plenty to eat as we went
+along.  We could store up a lot of figs, or dates or bananas on the
+raft--enough to last us a week, I dare say; and the current runs pretty
+swift, I expect.  Only how about the falls at different parts of the
+river?  I've heard there are several places where there are rapids, or
+actual cascades."
+
+"I don't think there are between this and the place I was speaking of.
+Anyhow we must be on the look out, and if we see any reason to think we
+are getting near one, we must run ashore.  Of course there must be some
+risk, you know."
+
+"Of course.  Well, I am game to go, and I think we had better make a
+start as soon as possible.  Suppose we look up the mealeys to-morrow and
+the next day--Tuesday, that is, and Wednesday, and set out on Thursday."
+
+"We had better set out on Wednesday night.  There is a full moon then,
+which will light us as well as broad day would.  And it would give us a
+start of ten hours or so before we were missed."
+
+"Very good.  I have no objection.  It is the pleasantest time for
+travelling during the warm weather."
+
+On the Wednesday evening, accordingly, the two boys set out on their
+expedition.  Nick had managed skilfully to extract the information he
+desired from the missionary, without exciting his suspicions; and they
+had had no difficulty in gathering a heap of ripe mealeys, as large as
+they could carry in their knapsacks, unobserved by any one.  They were
+careful to take no more than the exact amount of powder, which they
+considered to be their share of the remaining stock.  Frank also wrote a
+few lines, addressed to Warley, in which he told him, that they had
+found their life of late so unendurable that they had resolved to brave
+every toil and danger, rather than continue to undergo it.  He begged
+that no attempt might be made at pursuit; because in event of their
+being overtaken, they were resolved positively to refuse to return to
+the Basuto village.  Lastly, he assured Ernest, that if they succeeded
+in reaching Cape Town, they would take care that steps were immediately
+taken for securing his safe journey thither.
+
+Having left this letter on the table, where it would be sure to be found
+on the following morning, the two lads set forth under the bright
+moonlight, and travelled in safety some fifteen or sixteen miles through
+the night and into the next day, when the burning heat warned them that
+it was time to rest.  They started again an hour or two after sunset,
+and again pursued their way through almost unbroken solitude, tracking
+their way partly by the aid of Gilbert's compass, partly by their
+recollection of Mr De Walden's information.  So many days passed on,
+until the whole of their store of provisions was exhausted, and they
+were fain to supply themselves with anything eatable, which the desert
+or forest could furnish.
+
+But here they found, for the first time, their calculations fail them.
+The plains they traversed were either wastes of arid sand, or ranges of
+forest producing haak-doorns and kamel doorns and mimosas in abundance,
+and occasionally sycamores and acacias, but none of the fruit trees they
+had reckoned on finding.  At the end of the second day, they were
+obliged to expend some of their dearly cherished ammunition in firing at
+a gemsbok, which came full upon them in one of the turnings of the
+forest, and which they were fortunate enough to wound with the first
+shot they fired, and kill with a second.
+
+Collecting a heap of dry grass and wood, they succeeded, by the help of
+Lavie's burning-glass, which had been the doctor's parting gift to
+Frank, in lighting a fire, at which they roasted a considerable part of
+the gemsbok's flesh, and having made a hearty meal upon it, stored the
+remains in their knapsacks.  A considerable supply of meat was thus
+obtained, and for two or three days they fared well enough, especially
+as there was a fall of rain, which gave them plenty of water.
+
+But the line of country through which they passed continued as barren of
+the means of supporting existence as ever, and they were presently
+reduced to the same straits as before.  They began, indeed, now to be
+somewhat alarmed at their situation.  They had reckoned that it would be
+a fortnight's journey to the banks of the Gariep; but they had been ten
+days on their route, and had not, so far as they could calculate,
+accomplished half the distance.  Each of them had only two charges of
+powder left, and it was evident that their guns alone could be reckoned
+on, as furnishing them with food in the country where they were now
+travelling.  Their condition was rendered worse by two unsuccessful
+attempts which they made to shoot a buffalo on the day after the last
+batch of gemsbok meat had been consumed.  They had come on the track of
+a herd of buffaloes, which they had resolved to follow, and after many
+hours of careful stalking, they had got so near to the herd at sunset as
+to venture a shot.  But, just as in the former instance, though the
+animal was hit, and it might be severely wounded, it did not fall, but
+was able to make off with the rest of the herd.
+
+"Oh, Frank, what will become of us?" exclaimed Nick, as he witnessed
+this mishap.  "If we don't get food somewhere to-night, I feel as if I
+should perish of hunger."
+
+"Never say die, Nick," said Frank, cheerily.  "Look here!  This brute is
+hit hard, I'm sure of that; and I'm pretty sure, too, that he won't hold
+out very long.  Just look what lots of blood he has left behind him.
+They'll be quite enough to enable us to track him, even by this light.
+We'll follow up the blood-marks until we find him.  Even if another shot
+should be necessary, we shall still have a charge apiece left, if we
+should be attacked.  If we kill the buffalo it will supply us with food
+for a long time to come, and it is very unlikely that the country will
+continue as bare of all fruit, as it has been since we left the
+village."
+
+"All right, Frank," returned Nick; "that is the best way of viewing it
+at all events.  I'll just take a hole up in my belt to stop the
+importunities of my stomach, and then we'll be off after the buffalo.
+We may as well go that way as any other, at all events."
+
+They set out accordingly, following without difficulty, by the help of
+the moon, the course taken by the herd across the open plain and the
+intervening patches of scrub for two or three hours.  The marks of blood
+were plainly enough visible all the way, sometimes in large patches, as
+though the wounded animal had stopped behind the rest through momentary
+weakness; and then again only a drop here and there, as if it had again
+exerted its remaining strength to overtake the herd.  At last they came
+to a spot where a larger puddle than any before stained the adjacent
+grass and sand, and then the marks no longer followed the general track,
+but turned aside into a deep thicket, through which the two boys had
+considerable difficulty in following its course.
+
+They had advanced some distance, when Nick suddenly laid his hand on his
+companion's arm.
+
+"Did you hear that?" he said.
+
+"Hear what?" returned Wilmore.
+
+"I fancied I heard a shot fired," said Gilbert, "but I suppose I must
+have been mistaken."
+
+"A shot!  Who could there be in these parts to fire one?  It was the
+fall of a large stone from the cliffs, most likely.  They are often
+dislodged by the wind, and make a noise like the report of a gun.  Come
+along, we shall not have much further to go, I expect."
+
+"Hist!" exclaimed Nick, again stopping.  "I am quite sure I hear
+something now, though in a different quarter from that in which I
+fancied the gun was fired."
+
+"What do you hear?" asked Wilmore, stopping and listening with all his
+ears.
+
+"A kind of low growling, or groaning," answered Nick; "or perhaps
+grinding of teeth.  It is very indistinct; but I am certain that I hear
+it."
+
+"It is the poor brute in his dying agony," said Frank.  "Push on.  We
+must be close to him now."
+
+By this time the dawn had begun to break, and the daylight diffused
+itself rapidly over the scene.  The beams of the rising sun showed that
+they were, as Frank said, close on the buffalo's trail.  The grass was
+trampled down, as if by heavy footsteps, and blood, evidently only
+recently shed, stained the bushes and long grass in profusion.  And now
+the sound heard by Nick became plainly audible to Frank also.
+
+"Cock your gun, Nick!" he said.  "He may have life enough left in him to
+give us some trouble yet."
+
+As he spoke he turned the corner of a large mass of prickly pear, which
+had been partly forced aside and partly torn away by the passage of some
+heavy body, and came upon a sight which was as alarming as it was
+unexpected.
+
+The carcass of the buffalo lay on the ground, already partially
+devoured.  Standing over it were a male and female panther (or tiger, as
+the natives of South Africa are wont to call them), engaged in tearing
+the flesh from the ribs with their long white shining teeth.  The
+animals were as big as an ordinary English mastiff, and the glare of
+their large yellow eyes showed that the ferocity of their nature was
+fully awakened.  Frank fell back, as soon as his eye lighted on them,
+conscious that his best hope of escape lay in instantly withdrawing from
+the spot; but Nick, who had already raised his gun before he had come in
+sight of the enemy he was about to encounter, drew his trigger, scarcely
+aware of what he was doing, wounding the male panther severely, but not
+mortally, in the chest.  With a fierce howl of agony and rage combined,
+the tiger sprang straight upon him; and if he had not been
+extraordinarily light of limb and quick of eye, the next moment would
+have been his last.  But the moment the charge left the barrel, he
+perceived the imminence of the danger threatening him, and, dropping his
+gun, he sprang lightly on one side.  The brute's claws and teeth just
+missed their aim, but the body, in passing, struck him with sufficient
+force to prostrate him insensible on the ground.  The wounded panther
+had no sooner recovered from its spring, than it turned back to fasten
+on its fallen enemy; but Frank, stepping instantly up, with ready
+presence of mind, applied the muzzle of his rifle to its ear, as it was
+on the very point of bending its neck, and it fell lifeless on the
+ground.
+
+But the boys were now left quite helpless.  The last charge had been
+fired, and the remaining panther, which had stood motionless since the
+discharge of the gun, watching as it were the issue of the struggle, now
+gave evident signs that it was about to avenge its mate.  Erecting its
+tail, it uttered a low growl, which swelled gradually into a savage
+roar.  Another minute and his teeth would have been fastened in the
+lad's throat; but before the animal could make its leap, the sound of
+pattering feet was heard, and a large dog, bounding through the bushes,
+sprang on the tiger and caught it by the throat.  The brute turned
+savagely on its new assailant, and a furious combat commenced; the tiger
+tearing the ribs of the mastiff with its claws, but unable to shake off
+the hold it had fastened on its throat Frank gazed with blank amazement
+at the appearance of this unexpected champion, which seemed to have
+fallen from the skies for his deliverance; and his astonishment was
+increased when he perceived, as he presently did, that the dog was no
+other than his long-lost, faithful Lion!  How he could be still living,
+and still more, what could have brought him there, he could not
+conceive.  But it was no moment for speculation.  His favourite was
+matched against an antagonist which, if it did not prove victor in the
+struggle, might at all events inflict the most deadly wounds before it
+could be overcome.  Frank stooped, and drew the strong clasped knife
+which Nick always carried in his belt.  Opening this, he stepped forward
+to the spot, where the two animals, now covered with dust and blood,
+were savagely rending one another; he waited for the moment when the
+panther's breast became exposed, and plunged the knife into it up to the
+hilt.  The stab was mortal.  Unfastening the grip of its teeth on Lion's
+side, the brute endeavoured to seize this new enemy; but it could not
+disengage itself from Lion's hold.  Its jaws collapsed, its savage eyes
+grew filmy and dim, and in another minute the mastiff was tearing and
+shaking the inanimate carcass of its adversary.
+
+"Lion!  Lion! dear old boy!--are you much hurt," exclaimed Frank,
+running up, and throwing his arms round his favourite's neck; "however
+did you come here? and where have you been all these weeks and months?
+I can hardly believe, even now, that it is really you."
+
+"Yes, it really him--it Lion for sure.  Kobo and he make friends--know
+each other ever so long," said a tall Bechuana, who had now joined the
+party, and stood with a grin on his black face.  "But, Master Nick--he
+not hurt, is he?"
+
+"What, Kobo, you too here!" exclaimed Frank.  "But we'll talk about that
+presently.  We must see to Nick here.  I declare I almost forgot him in
+the surprise and joy at seeing old Lion again.  But men before dogs.  I
+am pretty sure, though, Gilbert isn't hurt.  He's only stunned by the
+weight of the leopard's body, when he sprang on him."
+
+They raised the lad between them, and soon had the satisfaction of
+seeing him open his eyes, and draw in a long breath; and then, after
+once or twice stretching himself, and feeling his chest and ribs,
+declare that he wasn't a pin the worse, and would be ready for his
+dinner, as soon as ever Kobo could supply him with any!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+THE LONG-EXPECTED ARRIVAL--CAPTAIN WILMORE'S NARRATIVE--THE TUTELARY
+SPIRIT--LION TO THE RESCUE--PLANS FOR THE FUTURE--THE FUTURE CHURCH.
+
+It was not until quite late on the morning after the departure of the
+boys, that the fact became known to De Walden and Ernest.  It chanced to
+be the day appointed by the missionary for the baptism of two of his
+adult converts, for whom Ernest and Ella were to act as sponsors.  In
+the interest of the occasion, the absence of the two boys was not
+noticed; and it was not until after the conclusion of the rite, that
+Ernest, happening to enter Frank's sleeping room, to ask some casual
+question of him, saw the note left on the table.  As soon as he had read
+it, he repaired to his friend's apartment, and the two held an anxious
+consultation as to the course which, under the circumstances, it would
+be most expedient for them to pursue.  De Walden knew--what none of the
+three lads could surmise--how great was the danger incurred by the
+truants, and how slender the hope of their succeeding in carrying out
+their projected scheme.  They must be pursued, and overtaken, and warned
+of their peril, whatever might be the risk or fatigue incurred by so
+doing.  If, after such warning, they persisted in their rash enterprise,
+they could not, of course, be prevented from pursuing it; but the blame
+would then rest wholly with themselves.
+
+They were still engaged in arranging their plans for immediate pursuit,
+when Ella entered the room where they were seated, with tidings which
+were even more unexpected than those they had that morning received.
+
+"My father," she said--so she always addressed De Walden--"the visitors
+you and Ernest have been so long expecting, have arrived, and are now
+with my mother.  Will you come and see them?"
+
+"The visitors, Ella!" exclaimed Warley, starting up.  "Whom can you
+mean?--not Lavie surely--"
+
+"Yes, he is one," returned Ella, "and there is a captain, an English
+captain.  He is Frank's father or uncle--"
+
+"Captain Wilmore!" cried Warley.  "Has he fallen in with Frank?"
+
+"No, we have told him that he and Gilbert have gone off by themselves,
+and that they cannot be very far off, and he means to go in search of
+them, I believe.  But he wants to see you first."
+
+De Walden and Ernest hastened to the Queen's apartment, and were soon
+exchanging a cordial grasp of the hand with the new-comers.
+
+"God be praised for this!" said the missionary.  "You cannot think how
+anxious I have been about you, Charles, though I did not tell the lads
+so.  Unwilling as I was to leave this place, I had fully resolved that
+if the present month should pass without tidings of you, I would set off
+with them for Cape Town.  I wish now I had told them of my intention; it
+would no doubt have prevented this foolish escapade of theirs.  I knew I
+could trust Ernest to remain quiet, and I thought I could trust the
+others."
+
+"You must not blame them, sir," said Warley.  "I have no doubt they had
+the same idea which I have entertained myself, though I thought it best
+to say nothing about it, that treacherous orders had been given to your
+guide to prevent your ever reaching Cape Town."
+
+"I cannot wonder that either you or they thought that," said De Walden,
+"after Chuma's treatment of us."
+
+"But," resumed Warley, "if I was doubtful about Charles's safety, I was
+much more despondent about Captain Wilmore.  I had little hope, I
+confess, of ever seeing him again."
+
+"And you would have had less hope still, my lad," said Captain Wilmore,
+"if you had known what befell us when we left the _Hooghly_."
+
+"You must hear the whole history from his own lips," said Lavie; "but
+not just now.  We have a good deal to do this morning that must be
+attended to."
+
+"I dare say the captain will relate it after supper," said De Walden.
+"Now come and hear the report of the scouts."
+
+That evening, accordingly, when the repast in the Queen's apartments was
+concluded, Captain Wilmore was called upon for the particulars of his
+adventures, which he was no way unwilling to relate.
+
+"You two will remember," he began, "the gale soon after we left the Cape
+de Verdes.  The foreigners I had taken on board showed themselves much
+smarter hands than I had expected, and worked double tides all the
+afternoon.  I didn't suspect their motive for showing so much zeal,
+which was no doubt to remove any suspicions I might have entertained,
+and make me relax my watch over them.  It quite succeeded.  I turned in
+about sundown thoroughly knocked up, but well satisfied with the
+behaviour of the ship's company, and intending to have a long sleep.  A
+very long sleep it was nearly being--"
+
+"Did they intend to murder you, sir, do you think?" asked Warley.
+
+"I do not think about it," returned the captain.  "I am sure of it.
+Half a dozen of them, with their knives drawn, and accompanied by those
+villains Duncan and O'Hara, were stealing down the companion to my cabin
+when they were challenged by old Jennings, who gave the alarm, and the
+pirates were obliged to make the attack openly.  They cut the poor old
+man down, but he saved all our lives nevertheless.  I have heard what
+became of him from Lavie, and it grieves me much to think that I shall
+never have an opportunity in this world of thanking the good old man for
+his bravery and self-devotion; but he will not miss his reward."
+
+The captain's voice was husky, and no one spoke for a minute or two;
+then Warley broke the silence.
+
+"Well, I should quite have believed that they intended to do it from all
+I heard from Jennings and others about Duncan and O'Hara, as well as
+from the well-known character of these pirates.  But then, if that was
+their intention, why did they allow you to leave the ship unhurt?"
+
+"Ah, why indeed," repeated the captain.  "I can't blame you for
+entertaining that notion, my lad; for I, old hand as I am, did not
+suspect their infernal treachery and cunning.  You see, when the pirate
+ship came up, we were just preparing to blow up the hatches and rush on
+deck.  No doubt they would have got the better of us, and killed us to a
+man; but before they had managed that they would have suffered
+considerably themselves.  That wily villain, Andy Duncan--I have been
+told since it was he, and I have no doubt it was--devised a scheme by
+which they would be enabled to get rid of us quite as easily as if they
+had blown out all our brains, but without incurring any risks
+themselves.  We discovered, when we had been an hour or two on board the
+boats, that some trick had been played with them, and they were very
+slowly but surely filling."
+
+"The merciless wretches!" exclaimed Ernest; "and you were some hundreds
+of miles from shore?"
+
+"Yes, quite five hundred from Ascension, which was the nearest land."
+
+"How did you escape, sir?" exclaimed De Walden.
+
+"Only by God's mercy.  The discovery was first made in the launch which
+Grey commanded.  The night, you will remember, was very dark, or it
+probably would have been made before; but they did not find it out till
+it was too late to keep it afloat even for a time.  They shouted to us
+for help, but she had sunk before we could reach them, and there was a
+strong current just where she went down, which swept them all away--
+except one of the mates, who managed to keep afloat until we picked him
+up.  On hearing his story, we contrived to strike a light, and examined
+our own boat.  There was a leak in her too, but providentially only just
+below the waterline.  I suppose whoever did the job, thought the boat
+floated deeper than she did; but by lightening her as much as possible,
+and throwing all the weight that remained on the other side, we raised
+the damaged part out of water, and then baled her out.  When day broke
+we were enabled to examine her more carefully.  The injury was beyond
+our power to repair effectually.  All we could do was just to keep her
+afloat, and if the sea had not been exceptionally calm we could not have
+done even that.  Moreover, we had been obliged to throw overboard nearly
+all our provisions and water.  In short, we should not only have never
+reached Ascension, but must have perished of hunger and thirst very
+speedily, if on the morning of the third day, shortly after dawn, a
+vessel had not appeared on our lee beam, apparently running before the
+light breeze which rippled the sea.
+
+"We tried to attract her attention, but without effect.  She was so near
+to us that we thought she must have seen us; but she did not alter her
+course, or in any way acknowledge our signals.  Finding that she took no
+heed, we resolved, as a last chance, to reach her by rowing, though this
+obliged us to right our boat, and the water poured in so fast that
+incessant baling would not keep it down.  At last, when we had got quite
+close to the ship, the boat was so water-logged that she could not have
+been kept afloat ten minutes more.  We hailed again and again, but there
+was no answer, nor was any one to be seen on deck.  We came to the
+conclusion that she had been deserted by her crew for some reason, or
+that they had all died on board, and that she was drifting aimlessly
+over the deep.  Fortunately there was a rope hanging over her bows, up
+which one of the sailors climbed, and was followed by the others in
+succession.  The last of us was hardly out of the cutter when she went
+down."
+
+"Had she been deserted?" inquired Ernest.  "Well, yes, by the survivors
+of her crew, that is.  She was evidently a Portuguese trader running, I
+apprehend, between the West India Islands and Lisbon, and had probably
+twenty or twenty-five men on board.  She must have been attacked by one
+of the terrible fevers prevalent in the hot climates, the action of
+which is sometimes so rapid that all attempts to stay it are useless.
+Several, I suppose, must have died, and the rest were so terrified by
+the fear of infection, that they had left her.  Any way, there were no
+human remains on board, and all the ship's boats were gone."
+
+"I should think the danger into which you ran was worse than the one
+from which you had escaped," observed Queen Laura.
+
+"We were of the same opinion, madam," observed Captain Wilmore.  "If we
+could have repaired our own boat, or if a single one of the ship's boats
+had been left, we should have preferred continuing our own voyage in it.
+But as that was impossible, we were obliged to remain in the vessel.
+But after consulting with Captain Renton, I resolved to run, not for
+Ascension, but for the Cape de Verdes, though they were considerably
+further off.  I don't know whether any of you have ever been at
+Ascension?"
+
+"We sighted it once, sir," said Lavie; "but I never went ashore there."
+
+"There is not much to see if you do land," said the sailor.  "It is
+little better than a great heap of cinders, except just in the interior,
+where there is some land capable of cultivation.  It was for a long time
+believed that there wasn't a drop of fresh water to be found on it.
+That is a mistake.  There are a few springs--enough to support life, and
+there are some goats, and plenty of turtle.  But there are no
+inhabitants, and I reckoned that if the fever should break out on board
+we should find no doctors there, or any means of nursing the sick.  We
+shaped our course for the Cape de Verdes, therefore.  We took all
+possible precautions, sleeping on deck throughout the voyage, and never
+going below unless it was absolutely necessary to bring up food and
+water.  Whether it was that these precautions were successful, or
+whether it was that I was mistaken in my conjecture as to the reason why
+the barque had been deserted, I cannot say.  But we certainly escaped
+without any sickness, and reached the Cape de Verdes without the loss of
+a man.
+
+"I need not tell you how welcome was the sight of Porto Prayo to us all.
+But I had an especial reason for rejoicing at it.  You will remember,
+Ernest, the circumstances under which we left Porto Prayo?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Warley, colouring, "I remember we had behaved very ill.
+I have often wished to ask your pardon for it."
+
+"Well, my lad, it was six of one and half a dozen of the other, I
+expect," said the captain.  "We may share the blame between us.  I had
+often reproached myself for the haste with which I acted; though, at the
+same time, I could not help being glad that you were safe, as I
+imagined, at Porto Prayo, instead of being exposed to the sufferings and
+dangers which had befallen us.  I had no sooner landed than I made
+inquiries concerning you; but to my surprise and disappointment I could
+learn nothing.  I instituted a most careful search, and offered a large
+reward.  But it was all in vain.  Nobody knew anything about you, except
+that three foreign-looking lads had been seen about the streets of the
+town one day several weeks before.  But no one had fallen in with them,
+or had heard anything about them since that date.  I was still
+prosecuting my inquiries, when the British fleet, under Sir Home Popham,
+on its way, as I learned, to make an attack on the Dutch at the Cape of
+Good Hope, sailed into the harbour.
+
+"Fortunately for me, I was an old messmate of the Admiral's, and he was
+interested in my story.  Moreover, I knew the Cape well, as was the
+case, I found, with very few of the officers of the squadron.  Sir Home
+offered me the command of the _Celaeno_, a fine frigate, the captain of
+which had died suddenly.  I, of course, gladly accepted it, and was
+enabled to render some service."
+
+"Ah, you were present at the taking of the Cape," said Mr De Walden.
+"Did the Dutch offer a determined resistance?"
+
+"No," said Captain Wilmore.  "I suppose the experience of the last
+campaign disheartened them.  But certainly it was a very hollow affair.
+Governor Jansens seemed to me to have given it up as a bad job from the
+first.  There was hardly enough resistance to make it any fight at all.
+But something did happen to me, nevertheless, in Simon's Bay which was
+exciting enough."
+
+"What was that, sir?" asked Ernest.  "You did not encounter the
+_Hooghly_, I suppose?"
+
+"Ah, but I did though," said Captain Wilmore, "the _Hooghly_ herself, as
+large as life.  The scoundrels had knocked away her figure-head, and
+painted her, name and all, anew; but I knew her in a moment, as well as
+I know my own face.  We hailed her, and the moment they saw me on the
+quarter-deck, they cut their cable, and tried to run for it.  But we
+were just entering the harbour, prepared for action, and sent such a
+broadside into her as knocked all the mischief out of her in a jiffey.
+O'Hara was killed, and White mortally wounded, and as for Andy Duncan,
+he was run up to the yardarm and hanged the next morning.  The others
+were put into irons, and received various sentences.  Some had seven
+dozen.  Others were simply dismissed and sent home."
+
+"Did you learn on board the _Hooghly_ what had befallen us?" asked
+Warley.
+
+"Yes, my lad, to my great satisfaction I did.  One of the sailors came
+to me on the morning of Duncan's execution, and told me all that had
+happened, so far that is, as he knew it.  But he could tell me nothing,
+of course, as to what had become of you after your escape from the ship.
+All he knew was that you had appeared suddenly on deck two days after
+we had left, and it was conjectured by the crew that you had been
+concealed somewhere by old Jennings.  Mr Lavie, it also appeared, had
+gone off with you, and none of the party appeared to have been hurt.
+That comforted me a little, but still I was very anxious and uneasy--the
+more so because all inquiries at the Cape for a long time were wholly
+fruitless."
+
+"Ah, I was afraid you would be at fault there," said Warley.  "I suppose
+you simply heard nothing at all?"
+
+"Very nearly that," said the captain.  "Some of the messengers whom I
+sent out did come back with a story that some white men with guns had
+been seen in the neighbourhood of Elephant's kloof; but the Hottentots
+living near about there denied, one and all, the truth of the rumour."
+
+"The rascals!" exclaimed Ernest.  "When you heard the truth of the
+matter, sir, you must have been amused at their denial."
+
+"Yes, afterwards," said Captain Wilmore; "but not at the time.  I was,
+in fact, almost in despair when Lavie here arrived all of a moment one
+day, looking like a ghost returned from the grave."
+
+"Ay, I am afraid you must have had a trying time of it, Charles," said
+De Walden.  "I have sometimes reproached myself for allowing you to go,
+considering what the danger and exhaustion must needs be."
+
+"You have no need to do so," said Lavie.  "Whatever I may have undergone
+has been more than compensated by our meeting to-day, not to speak of
+the appointment which my kind friend has obtained for me.  In fact, if I
+had not undertaken the journey, we must have remained in hopeless
+captivity."
+
+"Did your Bechuana guide play false?" asked the missionary.
+
+"No, I have no right to say so.  Whether he would have been as faithful
+as he was, had matters fallen out differently, may be a matter of doubt.
+I half fancy he had received some private instructions from Chuma,
+which he did not carry out, for what may seem a very strange reason.  He
+was frightened out of his senses by our dog, Lion!"
+
+"Lion!" exclaimed Warley.  "Why, he has been dead for weeks and months,
+hasn't he?"
+
+"Not he!  He is as much alive as you or I.  He is at one of the huts
+along with Kama and Kobo at this moment."
+
+"I thought I saw him swept away by the flood during that night on the
+Gariep."
+
+"So you did, I dare say; but he must have contrived to swim ashore.
+Anyhow, we met him two days' journey from the Bechuana village, tracking
+us, I fancy, by his instinct, and he would have joined us there before
+long, if I had not fallen in with him; but he would not leave me, when
+we had once met, and I thought the best thing under the circumstances
+would be to take him with me to Cape Town.  But Kama, who had never seen
+an animal like him, and who had heard of his having been swept away by
+the torrent, believed, I am convinced, that he was a sort of tutelary
+spirit, who would be sure to detect any knavery and avenge any false
+dealing on his part.  It amused me, I must say, a good deal; but any
+way, from the day Lion joined our company to that on which we reached
+Cape Town, he never attempted any tricks."
+
+"And then you and Captain Wilmore resolved to go in quest of us," said
+De Walden.  "I understand that But how did you find out where we were?
+Did you go to the Bechuanas, and hear it from Chuma?"
+
+"No; we were making our way to the village, when we fell in with a man
+who was known to Kama, and who, it seemed, knew me too, though I had
+quite forgotten him."
+
+"What!  Kobo, I suppose?" exclaimed Warley.
+
+"Yes, that, I believe, is his name.  He told us that you all had escaped
+in his company from Chuma, who had quarrelled with you, or with Mr De
+Walden.  He said he had left you on an island on the Yellow River
+awaiting his return, and we had better accompany him to the place.  So
+we did, but there was no trace of you to be found."
+
+"No," said Warley.  "We didn't stay twenty-four hours on the island
+after Kobo's departure.  We have been playing at cross purposes with
+him.  How did you find out at last where we were?"
+
+"We met your messenger returning from his errand to the Bechuanas, and
+learned that the quarrel had been made up.  Nevertheless, all things
+considered, it is quite as well that we didn't go there."
+
+"All's well that ends well," said the Queen, who had sat listening to
+the discourse of her English guests with the deepest interest,
+recalling, as it did, so many varied associations.
+
+"I trust it will end well, madam," observed Captain Wilmore.  "But until
+I find my nephew, and young Gilbert, and bring them back safely, I
+cannot consider that there is an end to my anxieties."
+
+"We will set off in quest of them to-morrow morning, as soon as you have
+had a good rest," said De Walden.  "I have already set some of the best
+hunters to follow their track, so as to save us time to-morrow.  I feel
+sure that in two or three days, at furthest, we shall come up with
+them."
+
+So they probably would have done, had it not been for the length of the
+journeys made by the lads on the first two days, and the rains which had
+fallen on the third and fourth, which had almost entirely obliterated
+all traces of them.  If De Walden had not remembered the questions put
+to him by Nick, as to the direction in which the Gariep lay, they would
+have been more than once completely at fault.  But this served as a
+clue, when everything else failed, and every now and then they came upon
+the white embers of a fire, or heaps of dry grass, which had evidently
+served for beds, showing that, however slowly they might be progressing,
+it was in the right direction.
+
+It was on the afternoon of the ninth day, when Kobo, who, it should be
+mentioned, had formed a warm friendship with Lion since leaving the
+Basuto village--it was just in the late afternoon, when Kobo, who had
+been a little in advance of the rest of the party, came hurrying back
+with the news, that there were both hoof marks and large stains of blood
+to be seen in the grass and bushes about a hundred yards ahead, as
+though some large animal--a gnu, or an eland, or perhaps a buffalo--had
+been severely wounded.  If such was the case, most probably they were in
+the neighbourhood of the English lads, as there were neither Bechuanas
+or Basutos to be found thereabouts.  He added, that it was with the
+greatest difficulty that he could restrain Lion, who wanted to rush off,
+at the top of his speed, in the direction of the footmarks.
+
+"You had better let him go, Kobo," said De Walden, "and follow him up as
+closely as you can.  He'll find Frank, if he is to be found, I'll answer
+for it."
+
+"And we'll all come after you," added Lavie.  "Meanwhile, I'll fire my
+gun.  They'll hear it if they are anywhere hereabouts."
+
+Lion was accordingly let loose, and immediately galloped off, arriving,
+as the reader has heard, just in time to rescue Frank and Nick from
+their imminent peril.
+
+It was a joyful meeting, when the whole party assembled on the spot
+where the carcasses of the two leopards, and an ugly rent in Lion's
+side, bore evidence to how narrow had been the escape of the two boys
+from death.  The tears stood in Captain Wilmore's eyes, as he grasped
+his nephew warmly by the hand, noticing, even at that moment, how his
+figure had improved in strength and manly bearing, and the thoughtful
+expression which had taken the place of mere boyish recklessness, on
+Gilbert's face.
+
+"My lads," he said, "I was hasty with you.  But for me, you would not
+have had to undergo this wandering and danger.  But I have paid the
+penalty--"
+
+"Oh, uncle," broke in Frank, "you mustn't say that.  It was all our
+fault, mine particularly.  And it hasn't been such bad fun, after all.
+I am sure we have most need to ask your forgiveness."
+
+"You mustn't regret what has happened, captain," said De Walden.  "Under
+God's good providence, it has been the making of them both.  But now, I
+suppose, we must be setting out on our return to the Basuto village."
+
+"I am afraid I cannot go there," said Captain Wilmore.  "I have been
+away a good deal longer than I had expected, as it is: and I know my
+presence is urgently needed at Cape Town.  I and my guides must set out
+homewards without loss of time--as soon, that is, as the lads are
+prepared to accompany me."
+
+"I am ready to go this moment," said Frank.
+
+"And so am I," added Gilbert.  "That's well," said the captain.  "Frank,
+I haven't told you that I have got a commission for you in a line
+regiment now at the Cape.  Sir David Baird signed it the day I came
+away.  That's good news, isn't it?"
+
+"The best there could be, thank you, uncle," returned Frank, joyously.
+
+"And you, Nick, what do you say?  Will you be put on the quarter-deck of
+the _Atlantic_--that's my new ship;--and rated as a midshipman?"
+
+"I should like nothing better, sir," answered Gilbert, almost as much
+pleased as Frank.  "Thank you very much for your kindness!"
+
+"That's well," again said the captain.  "And you too," he continued,
+turning to Lavie and Warley.  "Do you mean to return with me to Cape
+Town, or with Mr De Walden to the Basutos?  You will not be wanted, you
+know, Lavie, for two months yet; so you can stay behind awhile, if you
+choose."
+
+"Thank you, captain, I should like to have a good talk with Warley about
+his prospects; he does not, as yet, know the change that has taken place
+in them.  And besides, I haven't stood the journey as well as you have.
+I think I shall remain a week or two with Mr De Walden before following
+you."
+
+They shook hands accordingly, and went their several ways.  De Walden,
+accompanied by Lavie and Warley, returned to the village; where, after a
+few days of rest, they were enabled to arrange their plans for the
+future.
+
+"Ernest," said Lavie one morning, after they had just returned in
+company with De Walden from an inspection of the native school, "I am
+glad I delayed telling you what has happened at Cape Town.  I think the
+effect it will have on you may be different from what I had expected."
+
+"What has happened?" asked Warley with interest.  "You have lost your
+brother," answered Lavie.  "I know he was never really a brother to you,
+but you will be sorry for his sudden death, nevertheless.  When the
+rumour of the approach of the British fleet was circulated in Cape Town,
+some of the English tried to organise a British force to help their
+countrymen.  The Dutch governor heard of it, and sent soldiers to arrest
+the ringleaders.  Your brother offered an armed resistance, and was
+killed on the spot.  The Dutch authorities declared all your brother's
+property to be forfeited by his rebellion; but the new governor, Sir
+David Baird, at once rescinded that.  As your brother had made no will,
+all his money has become yours."
+
+Warley turned very white, and leaned forward on the table, covering his
+face with his hands.
+
+"I have told you, perhaps, too abruptly," said Lavie, "but you must
+remember that you have nothing to reproach yourself with, so far as your
+brother is concerned.  Is it not so, Mr De Walden?"
+
+"So far as I know," said the missionary affectionately, "nothing at
+all."
+
+"I hope not," said Ernest, in a low tone; "but this is very awful."
+
+"Sudden deaths are always awful.  But you have now to consider what you
+will do.  I thought, when I first heard it, that you would return to
+England and go to one of the Universities.  But I perceive that there is
+an attraction that may keep you here."
+
+"Yes, Charles, I cannot but view this strange and unexpected event as a
+solution of the difficulty that has been burdening my mind for many
+weeks past.  But I should like to have Mr De Walden's advice.  He must
+have seen, I think, the attachment between myself and Ella--"
+
+"Yes, Ernest, and I have seen in it the working of God's merciful
+providence for the enlightenment of the heathen in this land of darkness
+and superstition."
+
+"You think, then, that I ought to stay here and take up your work when
+you leave for Namaqua-land, as I know you mean to do some day?"
+
+"Even so.  I mean that you should remain here, and become the husband of
+this dear girl, who is worthy to be the bride of a king.  The wilderness
+has indeed blossomed as the rose for you.  But I do not advise that your
+marriage should take place at once.  Return to England, and prepare
+yourself for your office by two or three years of study, such as you can
+pursue only there.  Meanwhile, I will remain here till your return, and
+complete the education of your future wife.  Then, seek ordination,
+which also, unhappily, you cannot obtain in Southern Africa.  Some day,
+God will set up His Church in this land, and it will grow like the
+mustard seed, and the people will rest under its shadow.  But that time
+is still far off.  Let it be your work, as it has been mine, to prepare
+the furrows for the seed that will then be cast in.  Will you do this?"
+
+"God being my helper," answered Ernest, "I will."
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+THE HOTTENTOT GOD.
+
+The worship of the beetle by the Hottentots has been disputed.  No doubt
+it has not been their practice during the last fifty years.  But that it
+existed in more ancient times, is (I think) abundantly proved by the
+evidence of trustworthy writers.  Kolben, for example, has the following
+explicit statement, made from his own experience.
+
+"The Hottentots adore as a benignant Deity, a certain insect, peculiar
+(it is said) to the Hottentot countries.  This animal is of the
+dimensions of a child's little finger; the back green, the belly
+speckled white and red.  It is provided with two wings and two horns.
+To this little winged Deity, whenever they set eyes on it, they render
+the highest tokens of veneration.  If it honours their kraal with a
+visit, the inhabitants assemble round it with transports of devotion, as
+if the Lord of the Universe was come among them.  If the insect happens
+to alight on a Hottentot, he is looked upon as a man without guilt, and
+distinguished and reverenced as a saint and the delight of the Deity
+ever after.  They declared that if this deified insect had been killed,
+all their cattle would certainly have been destroyed by wild beasts, and
+they themselves, every man, woman, and child of them, brought to a
+miserable end."--_Kolben_, vol 1, page 99.
+
+KAFFIR PROPHETS.
+
+The scriptural curse of the "false prophet" has never been more
+strikingly fulfilled, than in the instance of the Kaffir nation in the
+year 1656.  A false prophet, named Umhlahaza, professed to have received
+a revelation from heaven through the visions of a girl, commanding the
+Kaffirs to kill the whole of their cattle, and promising that, in the
+event of their obedience, all their forefathers, together with their
+cattle, should rise to life again, that they should regain their
+ascendancy in the land, and live in plenty and prosperity for evermore.
+The object of this audacious imposture was to reduce the whole nation on
+a sudden to such a state of suffering that, in their desperation, they
+would burst in upon the settlements of the white men, and everywhere
+exterminate them.  It is strange that in a country where the flocks and
+herds constitute the sole wealth of the people, such an attempt should
+have succeeded.  But it did so to a considerable extent, at all events.
+Those who had contrived it, however, had made one fatal omission.  They
+ought to have concentrated the whole people on the English border, and
+they forgot that men enfeebled by famine would be unfitted for warfare,
+or indeed for any lengthened travel.  An attempt was made to remedy the
+blunder by postponing the day of the resurrection of the chiefs and
+cattle, but it failed.  The people had discovered the imposture, though
+not until they were reduced to the most frightful condition of
+starvation.  The English colonists did all that lay in their power to
+relieve them, but they were wholly unable to remedy the mischief.  Vast
+numbers died everywhere by the most terrible of all deaths, and the
+strength of the nation was so completely broken by the disaster, that
+they were rendered wholly incapable of continuing the warfare, for which
+in former days they had been so renowned.
+
+WRECK OF THE GROSVENOR.
+
+All the particulars of the wreck of this ill-fated vessel have been
+given in the narrative.  The whole of the crew and passengers, except
+seventeen, escaped safe to land, to the number of one hundred and fifty.
+In accordance with the proposal of the captain, they endeavoured to
+make their way overland to Cape Town; but after a few days' travel,
+during which they were harassed by the Kaffirs with repeated attacks, a
+fresh consultation took place.  Forty-three able-bodied men persevered
+in the attempt.  Of these, some three or four, after terrible perils and
+hardships, succeeded in reaching Cape Town.  What became of those who
+were left has never been certainly known.  Rumours, which are mentioned
+by Le Vaillant and others, declare that some women at all events
+survived, and were compelled to become the wives of native chiefs.  An
+expedition was even sent out to search for these, but failed, more
+apparently from want of capacity in those conducting it than from
+anything else.  Under these circumstances the fate of those who remained
+behind may, not unfairly, be made the subject of fiction.
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+THE HOTTENTOT GOD.
+
+The worship of the beetle by the Hottentots has been disputed.  No doubt
+it has not been their practice during the last fifty years.  But that it
+existed in more ancient times, is (I think) abundantly proved by the
+evidence of trustworthy writers.  Kolben, for example, has the following
+explicit statement, made from his own experience.
+
+"The Hottentots adore as a benignant Deity, a certain insect, peculiar
+(it is said) to the Hottentot countries.  This animal is of the
+dimensions of a child's little finger; the back green, the belly
+speckled white and red.  It is provided with two wings and two horns.
+To this little winged Deity, whenever they set eyes on it, they render
+the highest tokens of veneration.  If it honours their kraal with a
+visit, the inhabitants assemble round it with transports of devotion, as
+if the Lord of the Universe was come among them.  If the insect happens
+to alight on a Hottentot, he is looked upon as a man without guilt, and
+distinguished and reverenced as a saint and the delight of the Deity
+ever after.  They declared to me that if this deified insect had been
+killed, all their cattle would certainly have been destroyed by wild
+beasts, and they themselves, every man, woman, and child of them,
+brought to a miserable end."--_Kolben_, volume one, page 99.
+
+KAFFIR PROPHETS.
+
+The scriptural curse of the "false prophet" has never been more
+strikingly fulfilled, than in the instance of the Kaffir nation in the
+year 1856.  A false prophet, named Umhlahara, professed to have received
+a revelation from heaven through the visions of a girl, commanding the
+Kaffirs to kill the whole of their cattle, and promising that, in the
+event of their obedience, all their forefathers, together with their
+cattle, should rise to life again, that they should regain their
+ascendancy in the land, and live in plenty and prosperity for evermore.
+The object of this audacious imposture was to reduce the whole nation on
+a sudden to such a state of suffering that, in their desperation, they
+would burst in upon the settlements of the white men, and everywhere
+exterminate them.  It is strange that in a country where the flocks and
+herds constitute the sole wealth of the people, such an attempt should
+have succeeded.  But it did so to a considerable extent, at all events.
+Those who had contrived it, however, had made one fatal omission.  They
+ought to have concentrated the whole people on the English border, and
+they forgot that men enfeebled by famine would be unfitted for warfare,
+or indeed for any lengthened travel.  An attempt was made to remedy the
+blunder by postponing the day of the resurrection of the chiefs and
+cattle, but it failed.  The people had discovered the imposture, though
+not until they were reduced to the most frightful condition of
+starvation.  The English colonists did all that lay in their power to
+relieve them, but they were wholly unable to remedy the mischief.  Vast
+numbers died everywhere by the most terrible of all deaths, and the
+strength of the nation was so completely broken by the disaster, that
+they were rendered wholly incapable of continuing the warfare, for which
+in former days they had been so renowned.
+
+WRECK OF THE GROSVENOR.
+
+All the particulars of the wreck of this ill-fated vessel have been
+given in the narrative.  The whole of the crew and passengers, except
+seventeen, escaped safe to land, to the number of one hundred and fifty.
+In accordance with the proposal of the captain, they endeavoured to
+make their way overland to Cape Town; but after a few days' travel,
+during which they were harassed by the Kaffirs with repeated attacks, a
+fresh consultation took place.  Forty-three able-bodied men persevered
+in the attempt.  Of these, some three or four, after terrible perils and
+hardships, succeeded in reaching Cape Town.  What became of those who
+were left has never been certainly known.  Rumours, which are mentioned
+by Le Vaillant and others, declare that some women at all events
+survived, and were compelled to become the wives of native chiefs.  An
+expedition was even sent out to search for these, but failed, more
+apparently from want of capacity in those conducting it than from
+anything else.  Under these circumstances the fate of those who remained
+behind may, not unfairly, be made the subject of fiction.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hair-Breadth Escapes, by H.C. Adams
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPES ***
+
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