You should have made it up, Mark. It was your duty to do so at
the end of your watch."

"I did, sir," protested Mark, in a injured tone, "and told Peter Dance
to keep it well up when I left him."

"Dance!--Ah, yes, Dance," cried the doctor. "Where is he? Has anyone
see him?"

There was no reply, but eyes were turned in all directions, as if it
were possible that he might be lying there.

"Poor fellow!" said Sir James sadly. "Something must have happened to
him. Here, someone, hail. He may be lying wounded, and looking to us
for help."

"Cooey! Cooey! Cooey!" cried Bob Bacon, and then "Cooey!" again, while
in dread of fresh calamity all listened for the reply that did not come.

"Oh," cried Mark at last, "a lion must have leaped upon him and pulled
him down while he was going his rounds."

"Not likely, sir," said Buck Denham, "with the ponies and all them
bullocks about."

"Then where can he be?" cried Mark. "Don't you think a lion may have
leaped upon him when he was making up the fire?"

"Might, sir," said the man, "but lions are not likely to go near a fire.
I want the day to break, so that we may follow the spoor. What I am
hoping is that Peter may have been scared, and will turn up as soon as
it is day and he feels safe."

"That's what we all hope," said Mark, speaking for the rest.

"Yes, sir; but the worst of it is that when you want the sun to rise it
takes such a long time before it will."

"Yes," said the doctor, who had been silently listening for a few
minutes; "let's call the roll, and learn the extent of our losses."

"Oh, I can pretty well tell you that, sir," said Denham: "the four
ponies, and eight-and-forty of my draught oxen."

"No, no, man!" said the doctor. "Not so bad as that?"

"Well, not quite, sir, for I hope we may pick up some of them here and
there;" and he gave Mark, who was close at hand, a nudge with his elbow.

As the man ceased speaking the doctor began his roll call, as he termed
it: four men did not answer to their names.

"This is bad--very bad," said the doctor, in a pained voice. "I should
be loth to think that Dance neglected his duty in keeping up the fire,
and rendered us exposed to this attack of lions."

"Well, sir, it do seem rather hard to lay it on to a man who may have
got it badly, but I am afraid he let that fire out, for first thing
after I come, when I looked torst where it should have been all was
black as black."

"Oh, tut, tut, tu