dred yards of the gate, he struck off to the left into
the thick bush that clothed the hither side of the canal. Through
this they crawled as best they might till finally they halted near the
water's edge, almost opposite to the south-west angle of the slave camp,
and under the shadow of a dense clump of willows.

"See, Baas," said the dwarf in a low voice, "the journey is accomplished
and I have brought you straight. Yonder is the house of the Yellow
Devil--now it remains only to take it, or to rescue the maiden from it."

Leonard looked at the place in dismay. How was it possible that
they--two men and a woman--could capture this fortified camp, filled as
it was with scores of the most wicked desperadoes in Africa? How was it
possible even that they could obtain access to it? Viewed from far off,
the thing had seemed small--to be done somehow. But now! And yet they
must do something, or all their labour would be in vain, and the poor
girl they came to rescue must be handed over to her shameful fate,
or, if she chose it in preference and could compass the deed, to
self-murder.

"How on earth!" said Leonard aloud, then added, "Well, Otter, I can tell
you one thing. I have come a long way on this business, and I am not
going to turn my back to it now. I have never yet turned my back on a
venture and I will not begin with this, though I dare say that my death
lies in it."

"It is all in the hand of to-morrow," answered Otter; "but it is time
that we made a plan, for the night draws on. Now, Baas, here is a thick
tree shaded by other trees. Shall we climb it and look down into the
camp?"

Leonard nodded, and climbing the tree with ease, they peeped down
through the leafiest of its boughs. All the camp lay beneath them like
a map, and Otter, clinging monkey-wise to a branch, pointed out its
details to Leonard. He had been a prisoner there, and the memories of
prisoners are long.

The place was peopled by numbers of men in strange costumes, and of
different nationalities; dealers in "black ivory" of various degree.
Perhaps there may have been more than a hundred of them. Some were
strolling about in knots smoking and talking, some were gambling, others
were going on their business. One group--captains, to judge from the
richness of their attire--were standing round the arms-house and peeping
through a grating in the wall, which they reached by sitting upon each
other's shoulders. This amusement lasted them for some ti