ming night.

It was within an hour of sunset when, having snatched a hasty impromptu
meal and provided themselves with a few sandwiches and a well-filled
pocket-flask each, as well as a liberal supply of cartridges, the four
hunters left the _Flying Fish_ on their way to the ambush which they had
arranged. The golden light of evening still gleamed brilliantly upon
the topmost boughs of the forest trees, but down below in the river bed
the twilight was already deepening as the quartette made their laborious
way over the many obstacles that impeded their progress; and the sight
of a deer or two that had already made their way down to the river to
drink was a reminder to them that they had no time to spare, and an
incentive to avoid dawdling on the way. The multitudinous insect-life
of the forest was already awake and stirring, the hum and chirp of the
myriad winged things causing the air fairly to vibrate with softly
strident sound, to which was added the rolling chorus of innumerable
frogs inhabiting the marshy low-lying patches contiguous to the river
margin. Great gorgeously winged dragon-flies swept hither and thither;
a few belated butterflies--some of which were so large and so
magnificently marked as to excite the professor's most enthusiastic
admiration--fluttered here and there in the more open spaces; birds of
various descriptions and of more or less brilliant plumage--some of the
smaller kinds being veritable winged jewels--flitted from tree to tree
uttering weird and startling cries, while an occasional soft rustling
sound in the adjoining thicket betrayed the movement of some larger
creature.

It was so nearly dark when the four hunters at length reached their
chosen hiding-place that they experienced some little difficulty in
satisfactorily bestowing themselves within it; and when at length they
had done so, there ensued a weary wait that was exceedingly trying to
their patience. For the darkness soon became so profound that although
from time to time there came to their ears certain slight sounds, such
as the sudden swish of a bough, or the crackling of withered leaves and
twigs, betraying the stealthy movements of some wild creature, they
could see nothing, strain their eyes as they might.

At length, however, a soft, silvery radiance brightening the topmost
branches of the trees encircling them proclaimed the rising of the moon,
then well advanced toward her second quarter; and as the light graduall