er, and finally stepped in through the gangway on to the
spacious deck of the _Flying Fish_, upon which he prostrated himself on
his face, laying his shield and weapons--his most valued possessions--as
an offering at the feet of the professor.

The latter, touching him lightly on the shoulder, at once bade him rise;
and, as the chief gathered himself up and regained his feet, von
Schalckenberg threw round the quaking but gratified savage's neck a
string of large opaque, turquoise-blue glass beads, and over his naked
shoulders a length of gaudily-flowered chintz. A loud shout of
admiration from the crowd of natives below proclaimed the fact that they
had witnessed the bestowal of these gifts, whilst Lualamba,
notwithstanding the august presence in which he found himself, could not
restrain the broad grin of delight which spontaneously overspread his
features.

A few judicious questions, artfully put, soon elicited from the savage
the information that the travellers were now in the country belonging to
M'Bongwele, a fierce, cruel, and jealous despot, so suspicious of
foreigners that the most stringent orders were in force to allow none
such to cross his borders upon any pretence whatever. This king had
been duly apprised, through the medium of the curious voice-telegraphic
mode of communication already described, of the mysterious arrival in
his dominions on the day previous; and had been so greatly disconcerted
and enraged at the news that he had forthwith issued the most peremptory
orders for the capture or slaughter of the monstrous visitant; and he
was now, according to Lualamba, impatiently awaiting in his palace, a
few miles distant, the intelligence that his order had been executed.
The chief, during the conversation which elicited these facts, had so
far recovered his self-possession and equanimity as to be able to make
the best possible use of his eyes; and, being a very shrewd fellow, he
was not long in arriving at the conclusion that the gigantic monster on
whose back he stood was, after all, nothing more nor less than an
inanimate, though unquestionably wonderful, _vehicle_ of some sort; and
that the fair-skinned beings to whom he was talking, though they claimed
to be the four Spirits of the Winds, were very similar in many respects
to certain white men whom he had seen only a few moons ago. The wily
savage accordingly made up his mind that, if he could only induce these
beings to accompany him into the k