hirts, but for
the mosquito curtains."

"All these precautions for a wretched fly."

"Exactly. A mosquito's gimlet carries more terrors for the explorer
than the elephant's trunk, and his hum is more dreaded than the roar
of the lion. The mosquito is fever-winged, alert, and bloodthirsty.
He carries the germs of malaria with him; and malaria kills off more
men than all the reptiles and wild animals combined."

"Is there no way of fighting?" asked Compton, impressed.

"Oh ay; they are fighting him on the West Coast by draining the
swamps, where he breeds about the villages. But who can drain the
swamps of the Congo, or let light into the Great Forest?"

"Then we stand a fair chance to catch malaria?"

"A better chance," said Mr. Hume, grimly, "than we have of catching
the okapi. Fear the mosquito, but at the same time take every
precaution against its attack. I have an idea myself that nature has
provided a safeguard."

"Quinine?" said Venning.

"Quinine is an antidote. I mean a preventive--but that is your
department, Venning. It will be one of your duties to study the
little brute, and you may make a great discovery, for instance, it
has been discovered that the mosquito dislikes certain colours. Why?
It may be that he would show more distinctly on one colour than on
another, and so fall an easy victim to an insect-eating bird. But it
may be that the leaves of some plant of a particular hue, or the
juices of the plant, are distasteful to the insect. Flies don't like
the leaves of the blue-gum, and I guess mosquitoes have their likes
and dislikes. Find the plant they dislike, and we may defy them."

They had no accommodation for such a luxury as a tent, but instead
they purchased canvas hammocks, each with a waterproof covering, and
a roll of green canvas with strong eyelet-holes, to serve the
purpose of a tent, in addition to a canvas awning with bamboo rods,
to cover the whole boat in case they were not able to land for any
length of time.

It was a pleasant time for the boys, and when at last they were
pitching down the Channel into the Bay of Biscay, having meanwhile
passed through a miserable twenty-four hours, they inhaled the
strong salt air and clapped each other on the back.

It was grand!

They stood in the bows, one hand on the rail, the other on the brim
of a hat, and tasted the salt with a smack of the lips. The wind
blew its life into their eyes, brightened them, toughened their
skins, red