aded across streams quietly trickling through the jungle. It was all
very new and very strange, and our hero could have enjoyed it more had
it not been for the heat. It was intensely hot and muggy. Not a leaf
stirred, and not a sound came to them save the creak of an occasional
bough, and the crack of twigs which lay underfoot. Bird and beast life
seemed to have departed. Mr Pepson shook his head and hurried on.

"Better reach the open as soon as we can," he said. "This is no place
for a man once the storm breaks. Listen! It is coming."

The tops of the trees moved while the tangle of leaves rustled. Dick
thought he heard an indefinite sound, a distant hum, gradually rising in
intensity, but as yet it was so slight that he was uncertain. He halted
as Mr Pepson turned round and mopped the perspiration from his face.
Then, as he replaced his handkerchief, he looked at his chief and
started back. For the leader of the expedition, usually so calm and
self-possessed, looked as nearly terrified as Dick imagined it would be
possible for him to be. He stared overhead, and stood there listening
acutely.

"You hear it?" he asked anxiously. "You hear a moaning sound?"

"I fancy I did a minute or so ago, sir. Wait. Yes. There it is,
without a doubt, and it is louder."

"Id is ze wind, mine frien, I zink," gasped Meinheer, seating himself on
a fallen log.

"The wind! It is the storm. A tornado!" exclaimed Mr Pepson,
ominously. "I tell you we are in the greatest danger, and that we must
act if we wish to be secure. Look about you, and find a spot where
there are very big trees, and numbers of trunks which have fallen."

He went on all fours and peered into the jungle and up towards the
summits of the trees, many of which towered for two hundred feet
overhead. And presently, when they had moved on a few yards, Dick's
hand went out and he drew his leader's attention to a part which seemed
to meet his requirements. A glance seemed to satisfy Mr Pepson, for in
an instant his sword was out again, and he began to hack a road to the
spot with all his strength. There was evidently no time for
explanation, that Dick could plainly tell, for the distant hum had now
risen to a roar, which seemed much nearer, while the tops of the trees
above him rocked and strained in the wind. Then they were still again
till another gust caught them. Whatever the danger to be feared, he had
known Mr Pepson long enough to be sure