he cried. "You are a-getting on!"

Those words, uttered loudly, brought up Buck Denham from where he had
been bathing one of the cuts he had received.

"Oh, I say, Mr Mark," he said, "you mustn't do that! You arn't strong
enough."

"I want to get up and walk; help me," was the reply, or rather command;
and the big fellow obeyed at once, taking one side, Dean the other, and
between them the poor lad took a few steps; and then his head sank
sideways while he submitted to being laid back on his leafy couch,
breathing hard and closing his eyes.

The next day he was as insistent as before.

"I want to walk. I must grow strong," he said, sternly now. "Help me."

Another day passed, and Dean, who had left his cousin asleep while he
went out to help the men to fetch water, returned to camp to look about
with startled eyes, for Mark's couch was vacant, and Dean's first
thought was that, fancying he had gained enough strength, he had started
off alone.

Reproaching himself with what he looked upon as neglect of his cousin,
he hurried off amongst the trees, searching in the direction that he
thought it probable Mark would have taken.

"I'm sure he can't have gone far," he said to himself; and so it proved,
for before long he caught sight of him.

Mark, who did not hear him come up, was kneeling by a great trunk, his
clasped hands resting upon the buttress, his brow bent, and his lips
moving rapidly.

Dean, with the nerves of his face twitching, crept silently up to where
he could touch his cousin, and then resting his own hands upon those of
Mark, he too bent down, and the next minute his lips were also moving.

At last Mark spoke.

"Oh, Dean," he said, "a few minutes ago I thought that all was over.
But oh, what a coward I have been, when perhaps all the time the poor
dad, a prisoner, is comforting himself with the hope that we shall go
and rescue him!"

"Don't--don't, old chap!" cried Dean. "Call _me_ a coward, if you like;
I won't mind. But it's like sticking one of the Illaka's spears into me
when you, you brave old chap, keep on reproaching yourself; and every
word you say is nothing but a lie."

"Brave old chap!" cried Mark mockingly, and he burst into a strange
laugh which made his cousin shiver.

"Don't!" cried Dean passionately. "What does a fellow want? To be
brave? Doesn't he want to be well and strong?"

"Oh, I suppose so."

"And there have you been fainting dead away over and over again.