d" merrily.
Their feet were naked, for Mr. Hume had taught the lesson that the
feet should be cool and the head protected; their arms were bare to
the elbow, of a fine mahogany hue; their movements were brisk; but
the best evidence of health was in the clearness of their eyes.
Fever shows its touch in the "gooseberry" eye, dull and clouded; in
the moist pallor of the skin, and in a general listlessness. Even if
they are free from fever, white men in Central Africa often grow
listless because of insufficient nutriment. Their flesh-diet is
chiefly the white meat of birds, and their blood-cells are really
starved by the small amount of nitrogenous matter. A deficient diet
in its turn is a frequent cause of diarrhoea and constipation, two
of the most common complaints among new chums. In his hunting
expeditions Mr. Hume had learnt his lesson from experience, and he
accordingly was a martinet on the rules of health. All the drinking-
water was first boiled. The boys could wear as little as they liked
during the heat of the day, so long as they protected their heads
and necks, but on the approach of evening they had to get into warm
and dry under-garments; they had to keep a sharp watch for the
striped "anophele" mosquito, were taught to spray the puncture, if
they were tapped by the mosquito lancet, with chloride of ethyl, and
had to submit occasionally to a hypodermic injection of quinine. The
nitrogen they got from condensed meat juices.

"This is very much more like what I expected," said Venning, looking
from the broad river to the distant wooded banks, and from the dark
forest to the blue sky.

"I can see two string of duck, a whole crowd of ibis on a little
island, a crocodile and a hippo."

Compton, who was facing the stern, glanced over his shoulder, then
directed his gaze aft again.

"We seem to be traveling slowly," he growled.

"There's no hurry, is there?"

Compton raised his head a little, and looked under the shelter of a
hand.

"They're coming," he said briefly.

"Eh?" Venning stopped, and looked back. The water glimmered under
the sun like a vast silver sheet. "I can see nothing."

"Don't you see a dark smudge. Well, that is the smoke from a
steamer. I thought at first it came from a land-fire. But it does
not. Send her along."

Venning quickened up, and for some minutes pedals and levers worked
at almost racing speed.

"We cannot keep this up. Give him a call!" Venning shouted, and Mr.
Hum