We were hurrying on all this time entirely under the guidance of the strange being who had set us free, but not without protests from the black, who was growing jealous of our guide and who kept on whispering:

"No go no farrer, Mass Joe, Jimmy fine a doctor an Mass Jack Penny. Hi come along Jimmy now."

He was just repeating this in my ear when we were hurrying on faster, for the sounds of our pursuers came clear upon the wind, when our guide stopped short and fell back a few paces as a low angry growl saluted him from the darkness in front and he said something sharply to us in the native tongue.

His words evidently meant "Fall back!" but I had recognised that growl.

"Gyp!" I cried; and the growling changed to a whining cry of joy, and in an instant the dog was leaping up at my face, playfully biting at my hands, and then darting at Jimmy he began the same welcoming demonstrations upon the black.

"Mass Joe, Mass Joe, he go eat up black fellow. Top um away, top um away."

"It's only his play, Jimmy," I said.

"Him eat piece Jimmy, all up leggum," cried the black.

"Here, Gyp!" I cried, as the dog stopped his whining cry of pleasure, but growled once more. "Here," I said, "this is a friend. Pat his head, sir, and—, where is he, Jimmy?"

"Black white fellow, Mass Joe?"

"Yes, yes, where is he?"

"Gone 'long uder way. Run back fas fas. Fraid o Gyp, Gyp send um way."

"Stop him! Run after him! He must not go," I cried.

I stopped, for there was a low piping whistle like the cry of a Blue Mountain parrot back at home.

"Jack Penny!" I gasped, and I answered the call.

"Iss, yes, Mass Jack Penny," cried Jimmy, and Gyp made a bound from my side into the darkness, leaving us alone.

We heard the crash and rustle of the underwood as the dog tore off, and I was about to follow, but I could not stir, feeling that if I waited our guide might return, when, in the midst of my indecision, the whistle was repeated, and this time Jimmy answered.

Then there was more rustling, the dog came panting back; and as the rustling continued there came out of the darkness a sound that made my heart leap.

It was only my name softly uttered, apparently close at hand, and I made a bound in the direction, but only to fall back half-stunned, for I had struck myself full against a tree.

I just remember falling and being caught by some one, and then I felt sick, and the darkness seemed filled with lights.

But these soon died out, and I was listening to a familiar voice that came, it appeared, from a long way off; then it came nearer and nearer, and the words seemed to be breathed upon my face.

"Only a bit stunned," it said; and then I gasped out the one word:

"Doctor!"

"My dear Joe!" came back, and—well, it was in the dark, and we were not ashamed: the doctor hugged me to his heart, as if I had been his brother whom he had found.



CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

HOW WE MADE FURTHER PLANS.

"Why, Joe, my lad," he said at last, in a voice I did not recognise, it was so full of emotion, "you've driven me half-wild. How could you get in such a fix?"

"Jimmy get in big fix," said an ill-used voice. "Nobody glad to see Jimmy."

"I'm glad to feel you," drawled a well-known voice. "I can't see you. How are you, Joe Carstairs? Where have you been?"

"Jack, old fellow, I'm glad!" I cried, and I grasped his hands.

"That will do," said the doctor sternly. "Are the savages after you, Joe?"

"Yes, in full pursuit, I think," I said. "But my guide. I can't leave him."

"Your guide? Where is he?"

"I don't know. He was here just now. He brought us here."

"Jimmy-Jimmy say um goes back along," said the black. "He no top, big fright. Gyp bite um."

"One of the blacks, Joe?" said the doctor.

"No, no!" I said, so excited that I could hardly speak coherently. "A white man—a prisoner among the blacks—like a savage, but—"

"No, no," said Jimmy in a disgusted tone; "no like savage black fellow-fellow. Got a dust in head. No tink a bit; all agone."

"His mind wanders, being a prisoner," I stammered. "He is with the blacks—a prisoner—with my father."

"What?" cried the doctor.

"He has a fellow-prisoner," I faltered. "I am not sure—it must be—my father!"

"Mass Joe find um fader all along," said the black. "Jimmy find um too."

"Be silent!" cried the doctor. "Do I understand aright, Joe, that your father is a prisoner with the people from whom you have escaped?"

"Yes—I think so—I am not sure—I feel it is so," I faltered.

"Humph!"

"Have you seen him?"

"No," I said. "I did not know he was there till I was escaping."

"Jimmy see um. All rightums. Find Mass Joe fader."

"You saw him, Jimmy?" I panted.

"Iss. Yes, Jimmy see him. Big long hair beard down um tummuck."

"You have seen him—the prisoner?" said the doctor.

"Yes; iss Jimmy see um. Shut up all along. Sittum down, um look at ground all sleep, sleep like wallaby, wallaby."

"He means the poor fellow who helped us to escape," I said sadly.

"Jimmy see Mass Joe fader," cried the black indignantly. "Jimmy take um right long show um."

"The man who brought us here?"

"No, no, no, no!" cried Jimmy, dancing with vexation. "Not, not. Jimmy see um Mass Joe fader sit all along. See froo hole. Big long beard down um tummuck—long hair down um back. Um shake um head so, so. Say 'hi—hi—ho—hum. Nev see home again. Ah, my wife! Ah, my boy!'"

"You heard him say that, Jimmy?" I cried, catching him by the arm.

"Jimmy sure, sure. Jimmy look froo hole. Den fro little tone an hit um, and den black fellow come along, and Jimmy lay fas' sleep, eye shut, no move bit."

"He has seen him, Joe," cried the doctor. "He could not have invented that."

There was a low whining growl here again from Gyp, and Jack Penny drawled:

"I say, sha'n't we all be made prisoners if we stop here?"

"Quick!" said the doctor; "follow me."

"And our guide?" I cried.

"We must come in search of him another time. If he has been with the blacks for long he will know how to protect himself."

I was unwilling to leave one who had helped us in such a time of need; but to stay meant putting ourselves beyond being able to rescue my father, if it were really he who was our guide's fellow-prisoner. The result, of course, was that I followed the doctor, while a snuffling whine now and then told us that Gyp was on in front, and, in spite of the darkness, leading the way so well that there seemed to be no difficulty.

"Where are we going?" I said, after a pause, during which we had been listening to the cries of the savages, which appeared to come from several directions.

"To our hiding-place," said the doctor. "Jimmy found it before we lost him, and we have kept to it since, so as to be near you."

"But how did you know you were near me?" I said.

"Through Gyp first. He went away time after time, and I suspected that he had found you, so one day we followed him and he led us to the village."

"Yes?" I said.

"Then we had to wait. I sent messages to you by him; and at last I got your answer. To-night we were coming again to try and reach you, perhaps get you away. We meant to try. I should not have gone back without you, my lad," he said quietly.

The cries now seemed distant, and we went slowly on through the darkness—slowly, for the trees were very close and it required great care to avoid rushing against them; but the doctor seemed to have made himself acquainted with the forest, and he did not hesitate till all at once the shouts of the blacks seemed to come from close by upon our right, and were answered directly from behind us.

"A party of them have worked round," whispered the doctor. "Keep cool. They cannot know we are so near. Hist! crouch down."

We were only just in time, for hardly had we crouched down close to the ground than the sound of the savages pushing forward from tree to tree was heard.

I could not understand it at first, that curious tapping noise; but as they came nearer I found that each man lightly tapped every tree he reached, partly to avoid it, by the swinging of his waddy, partly as a guide to companions of his position.

They came closer and closer, till it seemed that they must either see or touch us, and I felt my heart beat in heavy dull throbs as I longed for the rifle that these people had taken from me when they made me prisoner.

I heard a faint rustle to my right, and I knew it was Jimmy preparing for a spring. I heard a slight sound on my left just as the nearest savage uttered a wild cry, and I knew that this was the lock of a gun being cocked. Then all was silent once more.

Perhaps the savages heard the faint click, and uttered a warning, for the tapping of the trees suddenly ceased, and not the faintest sound could be heard.

This terrible silence lasted quite five minutes. It seemed to me like an hour, and all the while we knew that at least a dozen armed savage warriors were within charging distance, and that discovery meant certain captivity, if not death.

I held my breath till I felt that when I breathed again I should utter a loud gasp and be discovered. I dared not move to bury my face in my hands or in the soft earth, and my sensations were becoming agonising, when there was a sharp tap on a tree, so near that I felt the ground quiver. The tap was repeated to right and left, accompanied by a curious cry that sounded like "Whai—why!" and the party swept on.

"A narrow escape!" said the doctor, as we breathed freely once more. "Go on, Gyp. Let's get to earth; we shall be safer there."

I did not understand the doctor's words then, but followed in silence, with Jack Penny coming close up to me whenever he found the way open, to tell me of his own affairs.

"My back's a deal better," he whispered. "I've been able to rest it lately—waiting for you, and it makes it stronger, you know, and—"

"Silence, Penny!" said the doctor reprovingly, and Jack fell back a few feet; and we travelled on, till suddenly, instead of treading upon the soft decayed-leaf soil of the forest, I found that we were rustling among bushes down a steep slope. Then we were amongst loose stones, and as the darkness was not quite so dense I made out by sight as well as by the soft trickling sound, that a little rivulet was close to our feet.

This we soon afterwards crossed, and bidding me stoop the doctor led the way beneath the dense bushes for some little distance before we seemed to climb a stony bank, and then in the intense darkness he took me by the shoulders and backed me a few steps.

"There's quite a bed of branches there," he said aloud. "You can speak out, we are safe here;" and pressing me down I sat upon the soft twigs that had been gathered together, and Jack Penny came and lay down beside me, to talk for a time and then drop off to sleep, an example I must have followed. For all at once I started and found that it was broad daylight, with the loud twittering song of birds coming from the bushes at the entrance of what seemed to be a low-roofed extensive cave, whose mouth was in the shelving bank of a great bluff which overhung a silvery-sounding musical stream.

Some light came in from the opening; but the place was made bright by the warm glow that came from a kind of rift right at the far end of the cave, and through this was also wafted down the sweet forest scents.

"Jimmy's was a lucky find for us," said the doctor, when I had partaken of the food I found they had stored there, and we had talked over our position and the probability of my belief being correct. "It is shelter as well as a stronghold;" and he pointed to the means he had taken to strengthen the entrance, by making our black followers bind together the branches of the tangled shrubs that grew about the mouth.

In the talk that ensued it was decided that we would wait a couple of days, and then go by night and thoroughly examine the village. Jimmy would be able to point out the hut where my father was confined, and then if opportunity served we would bring him away, lie hidden here for a few days till the heat of the pursuit was over, and then escape back to the coast.

I would not own to the doctor that I had my doubts, and he owned afterwards to me that his feeling was the same. So we both acted as if we had for certain discovered him of whom we came in search, and waited our time for the first venture.

It was dangerous work hunting for food at so short a distance from the village, but our black followers, aided by Jimmy, were very successful, their black skins protecting them from exciting surprise if they were seen from a distance, and they brought in a good supply of fish every day simply by damming up some suitable pool in the little stream in whose bank our refuge was situated. This stream swarmed with fish, and it was deep down in a gully between and arched over by trees. The bows and arrows and Jimmy's spear obtained for us a few birds, and in addition they could always get for us a fair supply of fruit, though not quite such as we should have chosen had it been left to us. Roots, too, they brought, so that with the stores we had there was not much prospect of our starving.

In fact so satisfactory was our position in the pleasant temperate cave that Jack Penny was in no hurry to move.

"We're just as well here as anywhere else," he said; "that is, if we had found your father."

"And got him safe here," he added after a pause.

"And the black chaps didn't come after us," he said after a little more thought.

"And your mother wasn't anxious about you," he said, after a little more consideration.

"You'll find such a lot more reasons for not stopping, Jack Penny," I said, after hearing him out, "that you'll finish by saying we had better get our work done and return to a civilised country as soon as we can."

"Oh, I don't know!" said Jack slowly. "I don't care about civilised countries: they don't suit me. Everybody laughs at me because I'm a bit different, and father gives it to me precious hard sometimes. Give me Gyp and my gun, and I should be happy enough here."

"Don't talk like that, Jack," I said in agony, as I thought of him who had helped me to escape, and of the prisoner he had mentioned, and whom the black professed to have seen. "Let's get our task done and escape as soon as we can. A savage life is not for such as we."

That day we had an alarm.

Our men had been out and returned soon after sunrise, that being our custom for safety's sake. Then, too, we were very careful about having a fire, though we had no difficulty with it, for it burned freely, and the smoke rose up through the great crack in the rock above our heads, and disappeared quietly amongst the trees. But we had one or two scares: hearing voices of the blacks calling to each other, but they were slight compared to the alarm to which I alluded above.

The men, I say, were back, having been more successful than usual— bringing us both fish and a small wild pig. We had made a good meal, and the doctor and I were lying on the armfuls of leafy boughs that formed our couch, talking for the twentieth time about our plans for the night, when all at once, just as I was saying that with a little brave effort we could pass right through the sleepy village and bring away the prisoner, I laid my hand sharply on the doctor's arm.

He raised his head at the same moment, for we had both heard the unmistakable noise given by a piece of dead twig when pressed upon by a heavy foot.

We listened with beating hearts, trying to localise the very spot whence the sound came; and when we were beginning to breathe more freely it came again, but faint and distant.

"Whoever it was has not found out that we are here," I whispered.

The doctor nodded; and just then Jack Penny, who had been resting his back, sat up and yawned loudly, ending by giving Jimmy, who was fast asleep, a sounding slap on the back.

I felt the cold perspiration ooze out of me as I glanced at the doctor. Then turning over on to my hands and knees I crept to where Jimmy was threatening Jack with his waddy in much anger, and held up my hand.

The effect was magical. They were silent on the instant, but we passed the rest of that day in agony.

"I'm glad that we decided to go to-night," the doctor said. "Whoever it was that passed must have heard us, and we shall have the savages here to-morrow to see what it meant."

The night seemed as if it would never come, but at last the sun went down, and in a very short time it was dark.

Our plans were to go as near as we dared to the village as soon as darkness set in, place our men, and then watch till the savages seemed to be asleep, and then, by Jimmy's help, seek out my father's prison, bring him away to the cave, and there rest for a day or two, perhaps for several, as I have said. But the events of the day had made us doubtful of the safety of our refuge; and, after talking the matter over with the doctor, we both came to the conclusion that we would leave the latter part of our plan to take care of itself.

"First catch your hare, Joe!" said the doctor finally. "And look here, my lad; I begin to feel confident now that this prisoner is your father. We must get him away. It is not a case of try! We must, I say; and if anything happens to me—"

"Happens to you!" I said aghast.

"Well; I may be captured in his place!" he said smiling. "If I am, don't wait, don't spare a moment, but get off with your prize. I don't suppose they will do more than imprison me. I am a doctor, and perhaps I can find some favour with them."

"Don't talk like that, doctor!" I said, grasping his hand. "We must hold together."

"We must release your father!" he said sternly. "There, that will do."



CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.

HOW WE HEARD A BLACK DISCUSSION AND DID NOT UNDERSTAND.

The rescue party consisted of the doctor, Ti-hi, and myself, with Jimmy for guide. Jack Penny was to take command of the cave, and be ready to defend it and help us if attacked or we were pursued. At the same time he was to have the bearers and everything in readiness for an immediate start, in case we decided to continue our flight.

"I think that's all we can say, Penny," said the doctor in a low grave voice, as we stood ready to start. "Everything must depend on the prisoners. Now be firm and watchful. Good-bye."

"I sha'n't go to sleep," said Jack Penny. "I say, though, hadn't you better take Gyp?"

"Yes, yes; take Gyp!" I said; "he knows the way so well."

"Jimmy know a way so well, too!" said the black. "No take a dog—Gyp!"

But we decided to take the dog, and creeping down into the bed of the rivulet we stood in the darkness listening, shut-in, as it were, by the deep silence.

"Forward, Jimmy!" said the doctor, and his voice sounded hollow and strange.

Gyp uttered a whine—that dog had been so well trained that he rarely barked—ran quickly up the further bank of the rivulet; Jimmy trotted after him, waddy in hand; the doctor went next, I followed, and Ti-hi brought up the rear.

One minute the stars were shining brightly over us, the next we were under the great forest trees, and the darkness was intense.

"Keep close to me, my lad," the doctor whispered; and I followed him by the ear more than by the eye; but somehow the task grew easier as we went on, and I did not once come in contact with a tree.

By the way Gyp took us I don't suppose it was more than six miles to the savages' village; and though we naturally went rather slowly, the excitement I felt was so great that it seemed a very little while before Jimmy stopped short to listen.

"Hear um talkum talkum," he whispered.

We could neither of us hear a sound, but I had great faith in Jimmy's hearing, for in old times he had given me some remarkable instances of the acuteness of this sense.

"Jimmy go first see!" he whispered; and the next minute we knew that we were alone with Ti-hi, Jimmy and the dog having gone on to scout.

"I detest having to depend upon a savage!" muttered the doctor; "it seems so degrading to a civilised man."

"But they hear and see better than we do."

"Yes," he said; "it is so."

There we waited in that dense blackness beneath the trees, listening to the faintest sound, till quite an hour had elapsed, and we were burning to go on, when all at once Ti-hi, who was behind us, uttered a faint hiss, and as we turned sharply a familiar voice said:

"All rightums! Jimmy been round round, find um Mass Joe fader!"

"You have found him?" I cried.

"Not talk shouto so!" whispered Jimmy. "Black fellow come."

"But have you found him?" I whispered.

"Going a find um; all soon nuff!" he replied coolly. "Come long now."

He struck off to the right and we followed, going each minute more cautiously, for we soon heard the busy hum of many voices—a hum which soon after developed into a loud chatter, with occasional angry outbursts, as if something were being discussed.

Jimmy went on, Gyp keeping close to his heels now, as if he quite understood the importance of not being seen. We had left the dense forest, and were walking in a more open part among tall trees, beneath which it was black as ever, but outside the stars shone brilliantly, and it was comparatively light.

The voices seemed so near now that I thought we were going too far, and just then Jimmy raised his hand and stopped us, before what seemed to be a patch of black darkness, and I found that we were in the shadow cast by a long hut, whose back was within a yard or so of our feet.

Jimmy placed his lips close to my ear, then to the doctor's, and to each of us he whispered:

"Soon go sleep—sleep. Find Mass Joe fader, and go away fast. All top here Jimmy go see."

I quite shared with the doctor the feeling of helpless annoyance at having to depend so much on the black; but I felt that he was far better able to carry out this task than we were, so stood listening to the buzz of voices, that seemed now to arise on every hand.

From where we stood we could see a group of the savages standing not thirty yards from us, their presence being first made plain by their eager talking, and I pressed the doctor's arm and pointed.

"Yes," he whispered; "but we are in the shadow."

From huts to right and left we could hear talking, but that in front of us was silent, and I began wondering whether it was the one that had been my prison. But it was impossible to tell, everything seemed so different in the faint light cast by the stars. I could not even make out the tree where Jimmy had been tied.

All at once a sensation as of panic seized me, for the group of blacks set up a loud shout, and came running towards where we were.

I was sure they saw us, and with a word of warning to the doctor I turned and should have fled but for two hands that were laid upon my shoulders, pressing me down, the doctor crouching likewise.

At first I thought it was Jimmy, but turning my head I found that it was Ti-hi, whose hand now moved from my shoulder to my lips.

I drew a breath full of relief the next moment, for in place of dashing down upon us the blacks rushed into the hut behind which we were standing, crowding it; and there was nothing now but a wall of dried and interwoven palm leaves between us and our fierce enemies.

Here a loud altercation seemed to ensue, angry voices being heard; and several times over I thought there was going to be a fight. I could not comprehend a word, but the tones of voice were unmistakably those of angry men, and it was easy to tell when one left off and another began.

We dared not stir, for now it seemed to be so light that if we moved from the shadow of the hut we should be seen, while the fact of one of us stepping upon a dead twig and making it snap would be enough to bring half the village upon us, at a time when we wanted to employ strategy and not force.

The burst of talking in the hut ended all at once, and there was a dead silence, as if those within were listening intently.

We held our breath and listened too, trembling with excitement, for all at once we heard a voice utter a few words, and then there was a faint sound of rustling, with the cracking noise made by a joint, as if some one had risen to a standing position.

Were the savages coming round to our side and about to leap upon us? Perhaps they were even then stealing from both ends; and my heart in the terrible excitement kept on a heavy dull throb, which seemed to beat right up into my throat.

The moments passed away, though, and at last I began to breathe more freely. It was evident that the savages had quitted the hut.

In this belief I laid my hand upon the doctor's arm, and was about to speak, when close by us, as it seemed, but really from within the wall of the hut, there came the low muttering of a voice, and I knew that some one had been left behind.

The doctor pressed my hand, and I shivered as I felt how narrow an escape we had had.

We wanted, of course, to move, but it seemed impossible, and so we stayed, waiting to see if the black had made any discovery.

After what seemed to me an interminable time I heard a slight rustling sound, and almost at the same moment there was a hand upon my arm, and directly after a warm pair of lips upon my ear:

"Jimmy no find um fader yet! Take um out o' place place! Put um somewhere; no know tell!"

I placed my lips to his ear in turn and whispered that there was some one left in the hut.

"Jimmy go see," he said softly; and before I could stay him he was gone.

"What is it?" whispered the doctor; and I told him.

The doctor drew his pistol—I heard him in the darkness—and grasped my arm, as if to be ready for flight; but just then I heard a voice in the hut which made me start with joy. Then there was a rustling sound, and Jimmy came round the corner of the hut.

"All rightums!" he whispered. "Find somebody's fader!"

"You here again, my boy!" whispered a familiar voice.

"Yes!" I said, catching the speaker's arm; and then, "Doctor," I said, "this is the prisoner who saved me—and set Jimmy free!"

"Doctor!" said the poor fellow in a low puzzled voice, as if his mind were wandering. "Yes, I am the doctor! They made me their doctor when—the fever—when—oh! my boy, my boy! why did you come back?" he cried excitedly, as if his brain were once more clear.

"To fetch you and—the other prisoner!" I said.

"Mr Carstairs?" he said earnestly. "Hush, hush! They are coming back—to kill me, perhaps! I must go."

He slipped away from us before we could stop him, and while we were debating as to whether we had not better rush in and fight in his defence, the savages crowded into the hut, and once more there was a loud buzz of voices.

These were checked by one deeper, slower, and more stern than the others, which were silenced; and after a minute or two, we heard our friend the Englishman respond in a deprecating voice, and apparently plead for mercy.

Then the chief savage spoke again in stern tones, there was a buzz of voices once more, and the savages seemed to file out and cross the opening towards the other side of the village.

We dared not move, but remained there listening, not knowing but that a guard might have been left; but at the end of a minute or two our friend was back at our side, to say excitedly:

"I want to help you, but my head—I forget—I cannot speak sometimes—I cannot think. It is all dark here—here—in my mind. Why have you come?"

"We are friends," said the doctor. "Where is Mr Carstairs?"

"Carstairs?—Mr Carstairs?" he said. "Ah—"

He began to speak volubly in the savage tongue now, tantalising me so that I grasped his arm, exclaiming fiercely:

"Speak English. Where is my father?"

I could hardly see his face, but there was light enough to tell that he turned towards me, and he stopped speaking, and seemed to be endeavouring to comprehend what I said.

"My father—the prisoner," I said again, with my lips now to his ear.

"Prisoner? Yes. At the great hut—the chief's hut—"

He began speaking again volubly, and then stopped and bent his head.

"At the chief's hut?" said the doctor excitedly. "Wait a moment or two to give him time to collect himself, then ask him again."

The poor dazed creature turned to the doctor now, and bent towards him, holding him by the arm this time.

"Chief's hut? Yes: right across. There."

He pointed in the direction the savages seemed to have taken, and from whence we could hear the voices rising and falling in busy speech.

My heart leaped, for we knew now definitely where he whom we sought was kept, and the longing, impatient sensation there came upon me to be face to face with him was so strong that I could hardly contain myself.

"Let us get round there at once," I whispered, "Here, Jimmy."

There was no answer: Jimmy had crept away.



CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

HOW I NEARLY MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE.

We tried several times over to get our friend to speak, but the result was only a voluble burst of words in a tongue we could not comprehend, while all the time he seemed to be aware of his failing, and waved his hands and stretched them out to us as if begging us to forgive him for his weakness.

"Let him be, Joe," whispered the doctor at last; "we may excite him by pressing him. Let him calm himself, and then perhaps he can speak."

I felt as if it was resigning myself to utter despair, and it seemed that our attempt that night was to be in vain, when Jimmy suddenly popped up among us once more.

"'Long here," he whispered, and we were about to follow him when our friend stopped us.

"No; this way," he said, and he pointed in the opposite direction.

"No, no! 'long here way," said Jimmy excitedly. "Much lot black fellow that way."

"Never mind," I whispered; "let's follow him."

"Jimmy find Mass Joe fader right 'long this way," cried the black. "Not go 'long other way."

"Where is my father?"

"Big hut over 'cross," said Jimmy.

"Let's get round this way to it then," I whispered. "Come along."

The doctor was already in advance, following our guide, and after striking the earth a heavy blow with his waddy to get rid of his anger, Jimmy followed me, not able to understand that we could get to the opposite point by going round one way as readily as by the other.

It was very slow work and we had to labour hard, holding the bushes and trees so that they should not fly back upon those who followed us; but by dint of great care we got round at last to what, as far as I could judge, was the far side of the village, our principal guide being the sound of voices which came to us in a dull murmur that increased as we drew nearer, and at last we found ourselves similarly situated as to position, being at the back of another large hut.

Here we waited, listening to the buzz of voices, till I wondered in my impatience what they could be discussing, and longed to ask our guide, but feared lest I should confuse him, now that perhaps he was about to do us good service if left alone.

I was glad that I had kept quiet the next minute, for the doctor laid his hand upon my shoulder and whispered in my ear:

"There is no doubt about it, my lad. We have reached the right spot. Your father is a prisoner in this very hut, and the savages are discussing whether they will keep him here or take him away."

"What shall we do?" I whispered back in agony, for it seemed so terrible to have come all these hundreds of miles to find him, and then to sit down, as it were, quite helpless, without taking a step to set him free.

"We can do nothing yet," he replied, "but wait for an opportunity to get him away."

"Can you not make some plan?" I whispered back.

"Hist!"

He pressed my hand, for I had been growing louder of speech in my excitement, and just then there was a fresh outburst of voices from within the hut, followed by the trampling of feet and loud shouting, which seemed to be crossing the village and going farther away.

"They have taken the prisoner to—"

Our companion said the first words excitedly, and then stopped short.

"Where?" I exclaimed aloud, as I caught at his arm.

He answered me in the savage tongue, and with an impatient stamp of the foot I turned to the doctor.

"What can we do?" I said. "It makes me wish to be a prisoner too. I should see him, perhaps, and I could talk to him and tell him that help was near."

"While you shut up part of the help, and raised expectations in his breast, that would perhaps result in disappointment," replied the doctor. "We must wait, my lad, wait. The savages are excited and alarmed, and we must come when their suspicions are at rest."

"What do you mean?" I said. "Do you mean to go back to-night without him?"

"Not if we can get him away," he said; "but we must not do anything mad or rash."

"No, no, of course not," I said despairingly; "but this is horrible: to be so close to him and yet able to do nothing!"

"Be patient, my lad," he whispered, "and speak lower. We have done wonders. We have come into this unknown wild, and actually have found that the lost man is alive. What is more, we have come, as if led by blind instinct, to the very place where he is a prisoner, and we almost know the hut in which he is confined."

"Yes, yes. I know all that," I said; "but it is so hard not to be able to help him now."

"We are helping him," said the doctor. "Just think: we have this poor half-dazed fellow to glean some information, and we have a hiding-place near, and—Look out!"

I turned my piece in the direction of the danger, for just then a member of our little expedition, who had been perfectly silent so far, uttered a savage growl and a fierce worrying noise.

Simultaneously there was a burst of shouts and cries, with the sound of blows and the rush of feet through the bush.

For the next few minutes there was so much excitement and confusion that I could hardly tell what happened in the darkness. All I knew was that a strong clutch was laid upon my shoulders, and that I was being dragged backwards, when I heard the dull thud of a blow and I was driven to the ground, with a heavy body lying across me.

I partly struggled out of this position, partly found myself dragged out, and then, in a half-stunned, confused fashion, I yielded, as I was dragged through the dark forest, the twigs and boughs lashing my face horribly.

I had kept tight hold of my gun, and with the feeling strong upon me that if I wished to avoid a second captivity I must free myself, I waited for an opportunity to turn upon the strong savage who held me so tightly in his grasp and dragged me through the bush in so pitiless a manner.

He had me with his left hand riveted in my clothes while with his right hand, I presumed with a war-club, he dashed the bushes aside when the obstacles were very great.

My heart beat fast as I felt that if I were to escape I must fire at this fierce enemy, and so horrible did the act seem that twice over, after laying my hand upon my pistol, I withdrew it, telling myself that I had better wait for a few minutes longer.

And so I waited, feeling that, after all, my captivity would not be so bad as it was before, seeing that now I should know my father was near at hand.

"I can't shoot now," I said to myself passionately; "I don't think I'm a coward, but I cannot fire at the poor wretch, and I must accept my fate."

My arm dropped to my side, and at that moment my captor stopped short.

"No hear um come 'long now," he said.

"Jimmy!" I cried; and for a moment the air seemed full of humming, singing noises, and if I had not clung to my companion I should have fallen.



CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

HOW JIMMY AND I WERE HUNTED LIKE BEASTS.

"Jimmy!" I panted, as soon as I had recovered myself to find that the black was feeling me all over in the darkness.

"Not got no knock um chops, no waddy bang, no popgun ball in um nowhere," he whispered.

"No Jimmy, I'm not wounded," I said. "I thought you were one of the black fellows."

"No, no black fellow—no common black fellow sabbage," he said importantly. "Come long fas, fas."

"But the doctor and the prisoner and Ti-hi?" I said.

"All run way much fas," said Jimmy. "Gyp, Gyp, see black fellow come long much, for Jimmy do and nibblum legs make um hard hard. Gib one two topper topper, den Jimmy say time um way, take Mass Joe. Come long."

"But we must go and help the doctor," I said.

"Can't find um. All go long back to big hole. Hidum. Say Mass Joe come back long o' Jimmy-Jimmy."

It seemed probable that they would make for our hiding-place, but I was very reluctant to go and leave my friends in the lurch, so I detained Jimmy and we sat listening, the black making me sit down.

"Rest um leggums," he said. "Run much fas den."

We stayed there listening for what must have been the space of half an hour, and during that time we could hear the shouting and rapping of trees of the blacks as they were evidently searching the bush, but there was no sound of excitement or fighting, neither did it seem to me that there were any exulting shouts such as might arise over the capture of prisoners.

This gave me hope, and in the belief that I might find my companions at the hiding-place I was about to propose to Jimmy that we would go on, when he jumped up.

"No stop no longer. Black fellow come along fas. Get away."

The noises made by the blacks were plainly coming nearer, and I sprang to my feet, trying to pierce the darkness, but everywhere there were the dimly-seen shapes of trees so close that they almost seemed to lower and their branches to bear down upon our heads; there was the fresh moist scent of the dewy earth and leaves, and now and then a faint cry of some bird, but nothing to indicate the way we ought to go.

I turned to Jimmy.

"Can you tell where the cave is?" I said.

"No: Jimmy all dark," he answered.

"Can't you tell which way to go?"

"Oh yes um," he whispered. "Jimmy know which way go."

"Well, which?" I said, as the shouts came nearer.

"Dat away where no black fellow."

"But it may be away from the cave," I said.

"Jimmy don't know, can't help along. Find cave morrow nex day."

There was wisdom in his proposal, which, awkwardly as it was shaped, meant that we were to avoid the danger now and find our friends another time.

"Mass Joe keep long close," he whispered. "Soon come near time see along way Mass doctor and Mass Jack Penny-Penny."

We paused for a moment, the black going down on his knees to lay his head close to the ground so as to make sure of the direction where the savages were, and he rose up with anything but comfortable news.

"All round bout nearer, come 'long other way."

Just then I gave a jump, for something touched my leg through a great rent in my trousers. It felt cold, and for the moment I thought it must be the head of a serpent; but a low familiar whine undeceived me, and I stooped down to pat the neck of Jack Penny's shaggy friend.

"Home, Gyp!" I said. "Home!"

He understood me and started off at once, fortunately in the direction taken by Jimmy, and after a long toilsome struggle through the bush, the more arduous from the difficulty we experienced in keeping up with the dog, we at last reached a gully at the bottom of which we could hear the trickling of water.

"All right ums," said Jimmy quickly, and plunging down through the bushes he was soon at the bottom, and went upon his knees to find out which way the stream ran.

He jumped up directly, having found that by the direction the water ran we must be below the cave, always supposing that this was the right stream.

Down in the gully the sounds of pursuit grew very faint, and at last died out, while we waded at times, and at others found room upon the shelving bank to get along, perhaps for a hundred yards unchecked; then would come a long stretch where the gully was full of thick bushes, and here our only chance was to creep under them, wading the while in the little stream, often with our bodies bent so that our faces were close to the water.

Gyp trotted cheerfully on as I plashed through the water, stopping from time to time to utter a low whine to guide us when he got some distance ahead, and I often envied the sagacious animal his strength and activity, for beside him at a time like this I seemed to be a very helpless creature indeed.

Two or three times over I grasped the black's arm and we stopped to listen, for it seemed to me that I could hear footsteps and the rustling of the bushes at the top of the gully far above our heads; but whenever we stopped the noise ceased, and feeling at last that it was fancy I plodded on, till, half dead with fatigue, I sank down on my knees and drank eagerly of the cool fresh water, both Jimmy and the dog following my example.

At last, though I should not have recognised the place in the gloom, Jimmy stopped short, and from the darkness above my head, as I stood with the stream bubbling past my legs, I heard the unmistakable click of a gun cock.

"Jack!" I whispered. "Jack Penny!"

"That'll do," he whispered back. "Come along. All right! Have you got him?"

"Whom?" I said, stumbling painfully up into the cave, where I threw myself down.

"Your father."

"No," I said dismally, "and we've lost the doctor and Ti-hi. Poor fellows, I'm afraid they are taken. But, Jack Penny, we are right. My father is a prisoner in the village."

"Then we'll go and fetch him out, and the doctor too. Ti-hi can take care of himself. I'd as soon expect to keep a snake in a wicker cage as that fellow in these woods; but come, tell us all about it."

I partook, with a sensation as if choking all the while, of the food he had waiting, and then, as we sat there waiting for the day in the hope that the doctor might come, I told Jack Penny the adventures of the night, Jimmy playing an accompaniment the while upon his nose.



CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

HOW JACK PENNY FIRED A STRAIGHT SHOT.

There was no stopping Jimmy's snoring. Pokes and kicks only intensified the noise, so at last we let him lie and I went on in a doleful key to the end.

"Oh, it ain't so very bad after all!" said Jack Penny, in his slow drawl. "I call it a good night's work."

"Good, Jack?"

"Yes. Well, ain't it?" he drawled. "Why, you've got back safe, and you don't know that the doctor won't get back, and you've done what you came to do—you've found your father."

"But—but suppose, Jack Penny," I said, "they—they do him some injury for what has passed."

"'Tain't likely," drawled Jack. "They've kept him all this time, why should they want to—well, kill him—that's what you're afraid of now?"

"Yes," I said sadly.

"Gammon! 'tain't likely. If you'd got an old kangaroo in a big cage, and the young kangaroo came and tried to get him away you wouldn't go and kill the old kangaroo for it?"

"No, no," I said.

"Of course not. I didn't mean to call your father an old kangaroo, Joe Carstairs. I only meant it to be an instance like. I say, do kick that fellow for snoring so."

"It is of no use to kick him, poor fellow, and, besides, he's tired. He's a good fellow, Jack."

"Yes, I suppose he is," said Jack Penny; "but he's awfully black."

"Well, he can't help that."

"And he shines so!" continued Jack in tones of disgust. "I never saw a black fellow with such a shiny skin. I say, though, didn't you feel in a stew, Joe Carstairs, when you thought it was a black fellow lugging you off?"

"I did," I said; "and when afterwards—hist! is that anything?"

We gazed through the bushes at the darkness outside, and listened intently, but there was no sound save Jimmy's heavy breathing, and I went on:

"When afterwards I found it was the black I turned queer and giddy. Perhaps it was the effect of the blow I got, but I certainly felt as if I should faint. I didn't know I was so girlish."

Jack Penny did not speak for a few minutes, and I sat thinking bitterly of my weakness as I stroked Gyp's head, the faithful beast having curled up between us and laid his head upon my lap. I seemed to have been so cowardly, and, weary and dejected as I was, I wished that I had grown to be a man, with a man's strength and indifference to danger.

"Oh, I don't know," said Jack Penny suddenly.

"Don't know what?" I said sharply, as he startled me out of my thinking fit.

"Oh! about being girlish and—and—and, well, cowardly, I suppose you mean."

"Yes, cowardly," I said bitterly. "I thought I should be so brave, and that when I had found where my father was I should fight and bring him away from among the savages."

"Ah! yes," said Jack Penny dryly, "that's your sort! That's like what you read in books and papers about boys of fifteen, and sixteen, and seventeen. They're wonderful chaps, who take young women in their arms and then jump on horseback with 'em and gallop off at full speed. Some of 'em have steel coats like lobsters on, and heavy helmets, and that makes it all the easier. I've read about some of them chaps who wielded their swords—they never swing 'em about and chop and stab with 'em, but wield 'em, and they kill three or four men every day and think nothing of it. I used to swallow all that stuff, but I'm not such a guffin now."

There was a pause here, while Jack Penny seemed to be thinking.

"Why, some of these chaps swim across rivers with a man under their arm, and if they're on horseback they sing out a battle-cry and charge into a whole army, and everybody's afraid of 'em. I say, ain't it jolly nonsense Joe Carstairs?"

"I suppose it is," I said sadly, for I had believed in some of these heroes too.

"I don't believe the boy ever lived who didn't feel in an awful stew when he was in danger. Why, men do at first before they get used to it. There was a chap came to our place last year and did some shepherding for father for about six months. He'd been a soldier out in the Crimean war and got wounded twice in the arm and in the leg, big wounds too. He told me that when they got the order to advance, him and his mates, they were all of a tremble, and the officers looked as pale as could be, some of 'em; but every man tramped forward steady enough, and it wasn't till they began to see their mates drop that the want to fight began to come. They felt savage, he says, then, and as soon as they were in the thick of it, there wasn't a single man felt afraid."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, and then he went on again:

"If men feel afraid sometimes I don't see why boys shouldn't; and as to those chaps who go about in books killing men by the dozen, and never feeling to mind it a bit, I think it's all gammon."

"Hist! Jack Penny, what's that?" I whispered.

There was a faint crashing noise out in the forest just then, and I knew from the sound close by me that the black who was sharing our watch must have been lifting his spear.

I picked up my gun, and I knew that Jack had taken up his and thrown himself softly into a kneeling position, as we both strove to pierce the darkness and catch sight of what was perhaps a coming enemy.

As we watched, it seemed as if the foliage of the trees high up had suddenly come into view. There was a grey look in the sky, and for the moment I thought I could plainly make out the outline of the bushes on the opposite side of the gully.

Then I thought I was mistaken, and then again it seemed as if I could distinctly see the outline of a bush.

A minute later, and with our hearts beating loudly, we heard the rustling go on, and soon after we could see that the bushes were being moved.

"It is the doctor," I thought; but the idea was false, I knew, for if it had been he his way would have been down into the stream, which he would have crossed, while, whoever this was seemed to be undecided and to be gazing about intently as if in search of something.

When we first caught a glimpse of the moving figure it was fifty yards away. Then it came to within forty, went off again, and all the time the day was rapidly breaking. The tree tops were plainly to be seen, and here and there one of the great masses of foliage stood out quite clearly.

Just then the black, who had crept close to my side, pointed out the figure on the opposite bank, now dimly-seen in the transparent dawn.

It was that of an Indian who had stopped exactly opposite the clump of bushes which acted as a screen to our place of refuge, and stooping down he was evidently trying to make out the mouth of the cave.

He saw it apparently, for he uttered a cry of satisfaction, and leaping from the place of observation he stepped rapidly down the slope.

"He has found us out," I whispered.

"But he mustn't come all the same," said Jack Penny, and as he spoke I saw that he was taking aim.

"Don't shoot," I cried, striking at his gun; but I was too late, for as I bent towards him he drew the trigger, there was a flash, a puff of smoke, a sharp report that echoed from the mouth of the cave, and then with a horrible dread upon me I sprang up and made for the entrance, followed by Jack and the blacks.

It took us but a minute to get down into the stream bed and then to climb up amongst the bushes to where we had seen the savage, and neither of us now gave a thought of there being danger from his companions. What spirit moved Jack Penny I cannot tell. That which moved me was an eager desire to know whether a horrible suspicion was likely to be true, and to gain the knowledge I proceeded on first till I reached the spot where the man had fallen.

It was a desperate venture, for he might have struck at me, wounded merely, with war-club or spear; but I did not think of that: I wanted to solve the horrible doubt, and I had just caught sight of the fallen figure lying prone upon its face when Jimmy uttered a warning cry, and we all had to stoop down amongst the bushes, for it seemed as if the savage's companions were coming to his help.



CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.

HOW THE DOCTOR FOUND A PATIENT READY TO HIS HAND.

We waited for some minutes crouched there among the bushes listening to the coming of those who forced their way through the trees, while moment by moment the morning light grew clearer, the small birds twittered, and the parrots screamed. We could see nothing, but it was evident that two if not three savages were slowly descending the slope of the ravine towards where we were hidden. The wounded man uttered a low groan that thrilled me and then sent a cold shudder through my veins, for I was almost touching him; and set aside the feeling of horror at having been, as it were, partner in inflicting his injury, there was the sensation that he might recover sufficiently to revenge himself upon us by a blow with his spear.

The sounds came nearer, and it was now so light that as we watched we could see the bushes moving, and it seemed to me that more of this horrible bloodshed must ensue. We were crouching close, but the wounded man was moaning, and his companions might at any moment hear him and then discovery must follow; while if, on the other hand, we did not resist, all hope of rescuing my poor father would be gone.

"We must fight," I said to myself, setting my teeth hard and bringing my gun to bear on the spot where I could see something moving. At the same time I tried to find where Jack Penny was hiding, but he was out of sight.

At the risk of being seen I rose up a little so as to try and get a glimpse of the coming enemy; but though the movement among the bushes was plain enough I only caught one glimpse of a black body, and had I been disposed to shoot it was too quick for me and was gone in an instant.

They were coming nearer, and in an agony of excitement I was thinking of attempting to back away and try to reach the cave, when I felt that I could not get Jack Penny and the black to act with me unless I showed myself, and this meant revealing our position, and there all the time were the enemy steadily making their way right towards us.

"What shall I do?" I said to myself as I realised in a small way what must be the feelings of a general who finds that the battle is going against him. "I must call to Jack Penny."

"Cooey!" rang out just then from a little way to my right, and Jimmy looked up from his hiding-place.

"Is Carstairs there?" cried the familiar voice of the doctor, and as with beating heart I sprang up, he came staggering wearily towards me through the clinging bushes.

"My dear boy," he cried, with his voice trembling, "what I have suffered on your account! I thought you were a prisoner."

"No!" I exclaimed, delighted at this turn in our affairs. "Jimmy helped me to escape. I say, you don't think I ran away and deserted you?"

"My dear boy," he cried, "I was afraid that you would think this of me. But there, thank Heaven you are safe! and though we have not rescued your father we know enough to make success certain."

"I'm afraid not," I said hastily. "The savages have discovered our hiding-place."

"No!"

"Yes; and one of them was approaching it just now when Jack Penny shot him down."

"This is very unfortunate! Where? What! close here?"

I had taken his hand to lead him to the clump of bushes where the poor wretch lay, and on parting the boughs and twigs we both started back in horror.

"My boy, what have you done?" cried the doctor, as I stood speechless there by his side. "We have not so many friends that we could afford to kill them."

But already he was busy, feeling the folly of wasting words, and down upon his knees, to place the head of our friend, the prisoner of the savages, in a more comfortable position before beginning to examine him for his wound.

"Bullet—right through the shoulder!" said the doctor in a short abrupt manner; and as he spoke he rapidly tore up his handkerchief, and plugged and bound the wound, supplementing the handkerchief with a long scarf which he wore round the waist.

"Now, Ti-hi! Jimmy! help me carry him to the cave."

"Jimmy carry um all 'long right way; put um on Jimmy's back!" cried my black companion; and this seeming to be no bad way of carrying the wounded man in such a time of emergency, Jimmy stooped down, exasperating me the while by grinning, as if it was good fun, till the sufferer from our mistake was placed upon his back, when he exclaimed:

"Lot much heavy-heavy! Twice two sheep heavy. Clear de bush!"

We hastily drew the boughs aside, and Jimmy steadily descended the steep slope, entered the rivulet, crossed, and then stopped for a moment beneath the overhanging boughs before climbing to the cabin.

"Here, let me help you!" said the doctor, holding out his hand.

"Yes," said Jimmy, drawing his waddy and boomerang from his belt; "hold um tight, um all in black fellow way."

Then, seizing the boughs, he balanced the wounded man carefully, and drew himself steadily up step by step, exhibiting wonderful strength of muscle, till he had climbed to the entrance of the cave, where he bent down and crawled in on hands and knees, waiting till his burden was removed from his back, and then getting up once more to look round smiling.

"Jimmy carry lot o' men like that way!"

We laid the sufferer on one of the beds of twigs that the savages had made for us, and here the doctor set himself to work to more securely bandage his patient's shoulder; Jack Penny looking on, resting upon his gun, and wearing a countenance full of misery.

"There!" said the doctor when he had finished. "I think he will do now. Two inches lower, Master Penny, and he would have been a dead man."

"I couldn't help it!" drawled Jack Penny. "I thought he was a savage coming to kill us. I'm always doing something. There never was such an unlucky chap as I am!"

"Oh, you meant what you did for the best!" said the doctor, laying his hand on Jack Penny's shoulder.

"What did he want to look like a savage for?" grumbled Jack. "Who was going to know that any one dressed up—no, I mean dressed down—like that was an Englishman?"

"It was an unfortunate mistake, Penny; you must be more careful if you mean to handle a gun."

"Here, take it away!" said Jack Penny bitterly. "I won't fire it off again."

"I was very nearly making the same mistake," I said, out of compassion for Jack Penny—he seemed so much distressed. "I had you and Ti-hi covered in turn as you came up, doctor."

"Then I'm glad you did not fire!" he said. "There, keep your piece, Penny; we may want its help. As for our friend here, he has a painful wound, but I don't think any evil will result from it. Hist, he is coming to!"

Our conversation had been carried on in a whisper, and we now stopped short and watched the doctor's patient in the dim twilight of the cavern, as he unclosed his eyes and stared first up at the ceiling and then about him, till his eyes rested upon us, when he smiled.

"Am I much hurt?" he said, in a low calm voice.

"Oh, no!" said the doctor. "A bullet wound—not a dangerous one at all."

To my astonishment he went on talking quite calmly, and without any of the dazed look and the strange habit of forgetting his own tongue to continue in that of the people among whom he had been a prisoner for so long.

"I thought I should find you here," he said; "and I came on, thinking that perhaps I could help you."

"Help us! yes, of course you can! You shall help us to get Mr Carstairs away!"

"Poor fellow; yes!" he said softly, and in so kindly a way that I crept closer and took his hand. "We tried several times to escape, but they overtook us, and treated us so hard that of late we had grown resigned to our fate."

I exchanged glances with the doctor, who signed to me to be silent.

"It was a very hard one—very hard!" the wounded man continued, and then he stopped short, looking straight before him at the forest, seen through the opening of the cave.

By degrees his eyelids dropped, were raised again, and then fell, and he seemed to glide into a heavy sleep.

The doctor motioned us to keep away, and we all went to the mouth of the cave, to sit down and talk over the night's adventure, the conversation changing at times to a discussion of our friend's mental affection.

"The shock of the wound has affected his head beneficially, it seems," the doctor said at last. "Whether it will last I cannot say."

At least it seemed to me that the doctor was saying those or similar words from out of a mist, and then all was silent.

The fact was that I had been out all night, exerting myself tremendously, and I had now fallen heavily asleep.



CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.

HOW WE PASSED THROUGH A GREAT PERIL.

It was quite evening when I woke, as I could see by the red glow amongst the trees. I was rested but confused, and lay for some minutes thinking, and wondering what had taken place on the previous day.

It all came back at once, and I was just in the act of rising and going to see how our poor friend was, when I felt a hand press me back, and turning I saw it was Jack Penny, who was pointing with the other towards the entrance of the cave.

"What is it?" I whispered; but I needed no telling, for I could see that a group of the blacks were on the other side of the ravine, pointing in the direction of the bushes that overhung our refuge, and gesticulating and talking together loudly.

They know where we are then, I thought; and glancing from one to the other in the dim light I saw that my opinion was shared by the doctor and our black followers, who all seemed to be preparing for an encounter, taking up various places of vantage behind blocks of stone, where they could ply their bows and arrows and make good use of their spears.

Just then the doctor crept towards me and placed his lips to my ear:

"They have evidently tracked us, my lad," he said; "and we must fight for it. There is no chance beside without we escape by the back here, and give up the object of our search."

"We must fight, doctor!" I said, though I trembled as I spoke, and involuntarily glanced at Jack Penny, wondering even in those critical moments whether he too felt alarmed.

I think now it was very natural: I felt horribly ashamed of it then.

Whether it was the case, or that Jack Penny was only taking his tint from the greeny reflected light in the cavern, certainly he looked very cadaverous and strange.

He caught my eye and blew out his cheeks, and began to whistle softly as he rubbed the barrel of his gun with his sleeve.

Turning rather jauntily towards the doctor he said softly:

"Suppose I am to shoot now, doctor?"

"When I give the order," said the latter coldly.

"There won't be any mistake this time?"

"No," said the doctor, quietly; "there will not be any mistake this time!"

He stopped and gazed intently at the savages, who were cautiously descending towards the stream, not in a body but spread out in a line.

"Fire first with large shot," he said softly. "If we can frighten them without destroying life we will. Now creep each of you behind that clump of stones and be firm. Mind it is by steadily helping one another in our trouble that we are strong."

I gave him a quick nod—it was no time for speaking—and crept softly to my place, passing pretty close to where our friend lay wounded and quietly asleep.

The next minute both Jack Penny and I were crouched behind what served as a breastwork, with our pieces ready, the doctor being on our left, and the blacks, including Jimmy, right in front, close to the mouth of the cave.

"We must mind and not hit the blacks!" whispered Jack. "I mean our chaps. Lie down, Gyp!"

The dog was walking about in an impatient angry manner, uttering a low snarl now and then, and setting up the hair all about his neck till in the dim light he looked like a hyena.

Gyp turned to his master almost a reproachful look, and then looked up at me, as if saying, "Am I to be quiet at a time like this?"

Directly after, though, he crouched down with his paws straight out before him and his muzzle directed towards the enemy, ready when the struggle began to make his teeth meet in some one.

The savages were all the time coming steadily on lower and lower down the bank, till suddenly one of them stopped short and uttered a low cry.

Several ran to his side at once, and we could see them stoop down and examine something among the bushes, talking fiercely the while.

"They've found out where our friend was wounded, Jack Penny," I said.

"Think so?" he said slowly. "Well, I couldn't help it. I didn't mean to do it, I declare."

"Hist!" I whispered; and now my heart began to beat furiously, for the blacks, apparently satisfied, began to spread out again, descended to the edge of the little stream, and then stopped short.

If I had not been so excited by the coming danger I should have enjoyed the scene of this group of strongly-built naked savages, their jetty black, shining skins bronzed by the reflections of orange and golden green as the sun flooded the gorge with warm light, making every action of our enemies plain to see, while by contrast it threw us more and more into the shade.

They paused for a few moments at the edge of the stream, so close now that they could touch each other by simply stretching out a hand; and it was evident by the way all watched a tall black in the centre of the line that they were waiting his orders to make a dash up into the cave.

Those were terrible minutes: we could see the opal of our enemies' eyes and the white line of their teeth as they slightly drew their lips apart in the excitement of waiting the order to advance. Every man was armed with bow and arrows, and from their wrists hung by a thong a heavy waddy, a blow from which was sufficient to crush in any man's skull.

"They're coming now," I said in a low voice, the words escaping me involuntarily. And then I breathed again, for the tall savage, evidently the leader, said something to his men, who stood fast, while he walked boldly across the stream beneath the overhanging bushes, and one of these began to sway as the chief tried to draw himself up.

I glanced at the doctor, being sure that he would fire, when, just as the chief was almost on a level with the floor of the cave, there was a rushing, scratching noise, and the most hideous howling rose from just in front of where I crouched, while Gyp leaped up, with hair bristling, and answered it with a furious howl.

The savage dropped back into the water with a tremendous splash, and rushed up the slope after his people, not one of them stopping till they were close to the top, when Jimmy raised his grinning face and looked round at us.

"Um tink big bunyip in um hole, make um all run jus fas' away, away."

He had unmistakably scared the enemy, for they collected together in consultation, but our hope that they might now go fell flat, for they once more began to descend, each one tearing off a dead branch or gathering a bunch of dry ferns as he came; and at the same moment the idea struck Jack Penny and me that they believed some fierce beast was in the hole, and that they were coming to smoke it out.

The blacks came right down into the rivulet, and though the first armfuls of dry wood and growth they threw beneath the cave mouth went into the water, they served as a base for the rest, and in a very short time a great pile rose up, and this they fired.

For a few moments there was a great fume, which floated slowly up among the bushes, but very soon the form of the cavern caused it to draw right in, the opening at the back acting as a chimney. First it burned briskly, then it began to roar, and then to our horror we found that the place was beginning to fill with suffocating smoke and hot vapour, growing more dangerous moment by moment.

Fortunately the smoke and noise of the burning made our actions safe from observation, and we were thus able to carry our wounded right to the back, where the air was purer and it was easier to breathe.

It was a terrible position, for the blacks, encouraged by their success, piled on more and more brushwood and the great fronds of fern, which grew in abundance on the sides of the little ravine, and as the green boughs and leaves were thrown on they hissed and spluttered and sent forth volumes of smoke, which choked and blinded us till the fuel began to blaze, when it roared into the cave and brought with it a quantity of hot but still breathable air.

"Keep a good heart, my lads," said the doctor. "No, no, Penny! Are you mad? Lie down! lie down! Don't you know that while the air high up is suffocating, that low down can be breathed?"

"No, I couldn't tell," said Jack Penny dolefully, as he first knelt down and then laid his head close to the ground. "I didn't know things were going to be so bad as this or I shouldn't have come. I don't want to have my dog burned to death."

Gyp seemed to understand him, for he uttered a low whine and laid his nose in his master's hand.

"Burned to death!" said the doctor in a tone full of angry excitement. "Of course not. Nobody is going to be burned to death."

Through the dim choking mist I could see that there was a wild and anxious look in the doctor's countenance as he kept going near the mouth of the cave, and then hurrying back blinded and in agony.

We had all been in turn to the narrow rift at the end through which we had been able to see the sky and the waving leaves of the trees, but now all was dark with the smoke that rolled out. This had seemed to be a means of escape, but the difficulty was to ascend the flat chimney-like place, and when the top was reached we feared that it would only be for each one who climbed out to make himself a mark for the savages' arrows.

Hence, then, we had not made the slightest attempt to climb it. Now, however, our position was so desperate that Jimmy's proposal was listened to with eagerness.

"Place too much big hot," he said. "Chokum-chokum like um wallaby. Go up."

He caught hold of the doctor's scarf of light network, a contrivance which did duty for bag, hammock, or rope in turn, and the wearer rapidly twisted it from about his waist.

"Now, Mas' Jack Penny, tan' here," he cried; and Jack was placed just beneath the hole.

Jack Penny understood what was required of him, and placing his hands against the edge of the rift he stood firm, while Jimmy took the end of the doctor's scarf in his teeth and proceeded to turn him into a ladder, by whose means he might get well into the chimney-like rift, climb up, and then lower down the scarf-rope to help the rest.

As I expected, the moment Jimmy caught Jack Penny's shoulders and placed one foot upon him my companion doubled up like a jointed rule, and Jimmy and he rolled upon the floor of the cave.

At any other time we should have roared with laughter at Jimmy's disgust and angry torrent of words, but it was no time for mirth, and the doctor took Jack Penny's place as the latter drawled out:

"I couldn't help it; my back's so weak. I begin to wish I hadn't come."

"Dat's fine," grunted Jimmy, who climbed rapidly up, standing on the doctor's shoulders, making no scruple about planting a foot upon his head, and then we knew by his grunting and choking sounds that he was forcing his way up.

The moment he had ceased to be of use the doctor stood aside, and it was as well, for first a few small stones fell, then there was a crash, and I felt that Jimmy had come down, but it only proved to be a mass of loose stone, which was followed by two or three more pieces of earth and rock.

Next came a tearing sound as of bushes being broken and dragged away, and to our delight the smoke seemed to rush up the rift with so great a current of air that fresh breath of life came to us from the mouth of the cave, and with it hope.

In those critical moments everything seemed dream-like and strange. I could hardly see what took place for the smoke, my companions looking dim and indistinct, and somehow the smoke seemed to be despair, and the fresh hot wind borne with the crackling flames that darted through the dense vapour so much hope.

"Ti-hi come 'long nextums," whispered Jimmy; and the black ran to the opening eagerly, but hesitated and paused, ending by seizing me and pushing me before him to go first.

"No, no," I said; "let's help the wounded man first."

"Don't waste time," said the doctor angrily. "Up, Joe, and you can help haul."

I obeyed willingly and unwillingly, but I wasted no time. With the help of the doctor and the scarf I had no difficulty in climbing up the rift, which afforded good foothold at the side, and in less than a minute I was beside Jimmy, breathing the fresh air and seeing the smoke rise up in a cloud from our feet.

"Pull!" said the doctor in a hoarse whisper that seemed to come out of the middle of the smoke.

Jimmy and I hauled, and somehow or another we got Jack Penny up, choking and sneezing, so that he was obliged to lie down amongst the bushes, and I was afraid he would be heard, till I saw that we were separated from the savages by a huge mass of stony slope.

Two of the black bearers came next easily enough, and then the scarf had to be lowered down to its utmost limits.

I knew why, and watched the proceedings with the greatest concern as Jimmy and one of the blacks reached down into the smoky rift and held the rope at the full extent of their arms.

"Now!" said the doctor's voice, and the two hardy fellows began to draw the scarf, with its weight coming so easily that I knew the doctor and one of the blacks must be lifting the wounded man below.

Poor fellow, he must have suffered the most intense agony, but he did not utter a sigh. Weak as he was he was quite conscious of his position, and helped us by planting his feet wherever there was a projection in the rift, and so we hauled him up and laid him on the sand among the bushes, where he could breathe, but where he fainted away.

The rest easily followed, but not until the doctor had sent up every weapon and package through the smoke. Then came his turn, but he made no sign, and in an agony of horror I mastered my dread, and, seizing the scarf, lowered myself down into the heat and smoke.

It was as I feared; he had fainted, and was lying beneath the opening.

My hands trembled so that I could hardly tie a knot, but knowing, as I did, how short the scarf was, I secured it tightly round one of his wrists and called to them to haul just as Jimmy was coming down to my help.

He did not stop, but dropped down beside me, and together we lifted the fainting man, called to them to drag, and he was pulled up.

"Here, ketch hold," came from above the next moment in Jack Penny's voice, and to my utter astonishment down came the end of the scarf at once, long before they could have had time to untie it from the doctor's wrist.

"Up, Jimmy!" I cried, as I realised that it was the other end Jack Penny had had the nous to lower at once.

"No: sha'n't go, Mass Joe Carstairs."

"Go on, sir," I cried.

"No sha'n't! Debble—debble—debble!" he cried, pushing me to the hole.

To have gone on fighting would have meant death to both, for the savages were yelling outside and piling on the bushes and fern fronds till they roared.

I caught the scarf then, and was half-hauled half-scrambled up, to fall down blinded and suffocated almost, only able to point below.

I saw them lower the scarf again, and after what seemed a tremendous time Jimmy's black figure appeared.

Almost at the same moment there were tongues of flame mingled with the smoke, and Jimmy threw himself down and rolled over and over, sobbing and crying.

"Burn um hot um. Oh, burn um—burn um—burn um!"

There was a loud roar and a rush of flame and smoke out of the rift, followed by what seemed to be a downpour of the smoke that hung over us like a canopy, just as if it was all being sucked back, and then the fire appeared to be smouldering, and up through the smoke that now rose slowly came the dank strange smell of exploded powder and the sounds of voices talking eagerly, but coming like a whisper to where we lay.



CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.

HOW THE DOCTOR SAID "THANK YOU" IN A VERY QUIET WAY.

For some little time we did nothing but lie there blackened and half choked, blinded almost, listening to the sound that came up that rift, for the question now was whether the savages would know that we were there, or would attribute the roar to that of some fierce beast that their fire and smoke had destroyed.

The voices came up in a confused gabble, and we felt that if the blacks came up the rift we could easily beat them back; but if they came round by some other way to the rocky patch of forest where we were, our state was so pitiable that we could offer no defence.

Jimmy had been applying cool leaves to his legs for some minutes as we lay almost where we had thrown ourselves, seeming to want to do nothing but breathe the fresh air, when all at once he came to where the doctor and I now rested ourselves upon our elbows and were watching the smoke that came up gently now and rose right above the trees.

"Jimmy no hurt now. Roast black fellow," he said grinning. "Jimmy know powder go bang pop! down slow."

"Yes," said the doctor. "I was trying to get that last canister when I was overcome by the smoke, and just managed to reach the bottom of the rift. Who was it saved me?"

"Jimmy-Jimmy!" said the black proudly.

"My brave fellow!" cried the doctor, catching the black's hand.

"Jimmy come 'long Mass Joe. Haul Mass doctor up. Mass doctor no wiggle Jimmy 'gain, eat much pig."

The doctor did not answer, for he had turned to me and taken my hand.

"Did you come down, Joe?" he said softly.

"Of course I did," I replied quietly, though I felt very uncomfortable.

"Thank you!" he said quietly, and then he turned away.

"Black fellow hear powder bang," said Jimmy, grinning. "Tink um big bunyip. All go way now."

I turned to him sharply, listening the while.

"Yes: all go 'long. Tink bunyip. Kill um dead. No kill bunyip. Oh no!"

There was the sound of voices, but they were more distant, and then they seemed to come up the rift in quite a broken whisper, and the next moment they had died away.

"Safe, doctor!" I said, and we all breathed more freely than before.

The blacks had gone. Evidently they believed that the occupant of the cave had expired in that final roar, and when we afterwards crept cautiously round after a detour the next morning, it was to find that the place was all open, and for fifty yards round the bushes and tree-ferns torn down and burned.

The night of our escape we hardly turned from our positions, utterly exhausted as we were, and one by one we dropped asleep.

When I woke first it was sometime in the night, and through the trees the great stars were glinting down, and as I lay piecing together the adventures of the past day I once more fell fast asleep to be awakened by Jimmy in the warm sunlight of a glorious morning.

"All black fellow gone long way. Come kedge fis an fine 'nana."

I rose to my feet to see that the doctor was busy with his patient, who was none the worse for the troubles of the past day, and what was of more consequence, he was able to speak slowly and without running off into the native tongue.

We went down to the stream, Jack Penny bearing us company, and were pretty fortunate in cutting off some good-sized fish which were sunning themselves in a shallow, and Ti-hi and his companions were no less successful in getting fruit, so that when we returned we were able to light a fire and enjoy a hearty meal.

What I enjoyed the most, though, was a good lave in the clear cold water when we had a look at the mouth of the cave.

The doctor came to the conclusion that where we were, shut-in by high shelving sand rocks, was as safe a spot as we could expect, the more so that the blacks were not likely to come again, so we made this our camp, waiting to recruit a little and to let the black village settle down before making any farther attempt. Beside this there was our new companion—William Francis he told us his name was, and that he had been ten years a prisoner among the blacks. Until he had recovered from the effect of his unlucky wound we could not travel far, and our flight when we rescued my father must necessarily be swift.

It was terribly anxious work waiting day after day, but the doctor's advice was good—that we must be content to exist without news for fear, in sending scouts about the village at night, we should alarm the enemy.

"Better let them think there is no one at hand," said the doctor, "and our task will be the easier."

So for a whole fortnight we waited, passing our time watching the bright scaled fish glance down the clear stream, or come up it in shoals; lying gazing at the brightly plumed birds that came and shrieked and climbed about the trees above our heads; while now and then we made cautious excursions into the open country in the direction opposite to the village, and fortunately without once encountering an enemy, but adding largely to our store of food, thanks to the bows and arrows of our friends.

At last, one evening, after quietly talking to us sometime about the sufferings of himself and my father, Mr Francis declared himself strong enough to accompany our retreat.

"The interest and excitement will keep me up," he said; "and you must not wait longer for me. Besides, I shall get stronger every day, and—"

He looked from me to the doctor and then back, and passed his hand across his forehead as if to clear away a mist, while, when he began to speak again, it was not in English, and he burst into tears.

"Lie down and sleep," the doctor said firmly; and, obedient as a child, the patient let his head sink upon the rough couch he occupied and closed his eyes.

"It is as if as his body grew strong his mental powers weakened," said the doctor to me as soon as we were out of hearing; "but we must wait and see."

Then we set to and once more talked over our plans, arranging that we would make our attempt next night, and after studying the compass and the position we occupied we came to the decision that we had better work round to the far side of the village, post Mr Francis and two of the blacks there, with our baggage, which was principally food; then make our venture, join them if successful, and go on in retreat at once.



CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.

HOW WE TOOK A LAST LOOK ROUND, AND FOUND IT WAS TIME TO GO.

That next evening seemed as it would never come, and I lay tossing feverishly from side to side vainly trying to obtain the rest my friend recommended.

At last, though, the time came, and we were making our final preparations, when the doctor decided that we would just take a look round first by way of a scout.

It was fortunate that we did, for just as it was growing dusk, after a good look round we were about to cross the rivulet, and go through the cavern and up the rift back into camp, when I caught the doctor's arm without a word.

He started and looked in the same direction as I did which was right down the gully, and saw what had taken my attention, namely, the stooping bodies of a couple of blacks hurrying away through the bushes at a pretty good rate.

The doctor clapped his piece to his shoulder, and then dropped it once more.

"No!" he said. "I might kill one, but the other would bear the news. Fortunately they are going the other way and not ours. Quick, my lad! let's get back to camp and start."

"And they'll come back with a lot of their warriors to attack us to-night and find us gone!"

"And while they are gone, Joe, we will attack their place and carry off our prize!"

"If we only could!" I cried fervently.

"No ifs, Joe," he said smiling; "we will!"

It did not take us many minutes to reach the mouth of the cave, and as we entered I looked round again, to catch sight of another black figure crouching far up the opposite bank, at the foot of a great tree.

I did not speak, for it was better that the black should not think he had been seen, so followed the doctor into the cave, climbed the rift with him, and found all ready for the start.

"Black fellow all 'bout over there way!" said Jimmy to me in a whisper.

"How do you know?" I said quickly.

"Jimmy smell am!" he replied seriously. "Jimmy go look 'bout. Smell um black fellow, one eye peeping round um trees."

"Yes, we have seen them too," I said; and signing to him to follow, I found the doctor.

"The sooner we are off the better!" he said. "Now, Mr Francis, do you think you can lead us to the other side of the village, round by the north? the enemy are on the watch."

Mr Francis turned his head without a word, and, leaning upon a stout stick, started at once; and we followed in silence, just as the stars were coming out.

It seemed very strange calling this savage-looking being Mr Francis, but when talking with him during his recovery from his wound one only needed to turn one's head to seem to be in conversation with a man who had never been from his civilised fellows.

He went steadily on, the doctor next, and I followed the doctor; the rest of our little party gliding silently through the forest for quite three hours, when Mr Francis stopped, and it was decided to rest and refresh ourselves a little before proceeding farther.

The doctor had settled to leave Mr Francis here, but he quietly objected to this.

"No!" he said; "you want my help more now than ever. I am weak, but I can take you right to the hut where Carstairs is kept a prisoner. If you go alone you will lose time, and your expedition may—"

He stopped short and lay down upon the earth for a few minutes, during which the doctor remained undecided. At last he bent down and whispered a few words to his patient, who immediately rose.

Orders were then given to the blacks, who were to stay under the command of Jack Penny, and, followed by Jimmy, and leaving the rest of our party in the shade of an enormous tree, we set off once more.

The excitement made the distance seem so short that I was astounded when a low murmur told us that we were close to the village, and, stepping more cautiously, we were soon close up behind a great hut.

"This is the place," whispered Mr Francis. "He is kept prisoner here, or else at the great hut on the other side. Hist! I'll creep forward and listen."

He went down in a stooping position and disappeared, leaving us listening to the continuous talk of evidently a numerous party of the savages; and so like did it all seem to the last time, that no time might have elapsed since we crouched there, breathing heavily with excitement in the shade of the great trees that came close up to the huts.

It was a painful time, for it seemed that all our schemes had been in vain, and that we might as well give up our task, unless we could come with so strong a body of followers that we could make a bold attack.

I whispered once or twice to the doctor, but he laid his hand upon my lips. I turned to Jimmy, but he had crouched down, and was resting himself according to his habit.