y amongst the leaves.

All at once there was another quicker and sharper movement, as if
something passing amongst the undergrowth very slowly and cautiously had
startled the reptile, which made where it was growing dark three or four
rapid darts, each more distant, the last being followed by one that
developed into a glide, which soon died away, the sound being supplanted
by a steady slow rustle that was gradually approaching; and for a
certainty the sounds were made by a human being forcing his way through
the forest.

"Enemy or friend?" Murray asked himself, and then, freed from the
horror of the approaching serpent, he roused himself to try and creep
silently back towards the hut.

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR.

"YOU DAH?"

Murray's movements were cautious in the extreme, and as he crept almost
inch by inch he grew more confident of his power to do so without being
heard, for the movements made by whoever it was that was drawing near
were loud enough to cover his own.

To remain away from his companion during the long night was a thing not
to be dreamed of, with the possibility of the companionship of reptiles
such as he had seen; and the opportunity of creeping back unseen as well
as unheard grew more and more promising as the minutes glided by, and he
listened now so that he might be in no danger of losing his way. But at
the same time there was the risk of this being an enemy.

How he completed his short journey he could hardly tell, for he had to
battle with nervous excitement as well as with the darkness that now
began to fall rapidly in the deep shades of the forest, and at the last
he was attacked by a fresh trouble which was as startling as the first,
and showed him beyond doubt that some one was making for the hut. He
had more than once nearly convinced himself that he who approached was
the huge black, who had startled him with a false alarm of danger; but
somehow, when this idea was still hanging in the balance and he felt
doubtful of the wisdom of making his presence known to one who might
after all prove an enemy, he grasped suddenly at a fresh development,
for when at last the movements to which he listened had drawn very near,
he felt his heart sink with something approaching dread on his fellow
sufferer's behalf, for certainly now it could not be the huge black he
had seen, for two people, evidently well accustomed to thread a way
through the forest, were converging upon his hiding-place, and ra