himself that all his neighbours were buried in
deep sleep. Once advised of this important fact, he hesitated no longer,
but commenced the difficult ascent which led to the upper pinnacle
of the rock. His advance, though abundantly guarded, was not entirely
noiseless; but while he was felicitating himself on having successfully
effected his object, and he was in the very act of placing his foot on
the highest ledge a hand was laid upon the skirts of his coat, which as
effectually put an end to his advance, as if the gigantic strength of
Ishmael himself had pinned him to the earth.

"Is there sickness in the tent," whispered a soft voice in his very ear,
"that Dr. Battius is called to visit it at such an hour?"

So soon as the heart of the naturalist had returned from its hasty
expedition into his throat, as one less skilled than Dr. Battius in the
formation of the animal would have been apt to have accounted for
the extraordinary sensation with which he received this unlooked-for
interruption, he found resolution to reply; using, as much in terror as
in prudence, the same precaution in the indulgence of his voice.

"My worthy Nelly! I am greatly rejoiced to find it is no other than
thee. Hist! child, hist! Should Ishmael gain a knowledge of our plans,
he would not hesitate to cast us both from this rock, upon the plain
beneath. Hist! Nelly, hist!"

As the Doctor delivered his injunctions between the intervals of his
ascent, by the time they were concluded, both he and his auditor had
gained the upper level.

"And now, Dr. Battius," the girl gravely demanded, "may I know the
reason why you have run so great a risk of flying from this place,
without wings, and at the certain expense of your neck?"

"Nothing shall be concealed from thee, worthy and trusty Nelly--but are
you certain that Ishmael will not awake?"

"No fear of him; he will sleep until the sun scorches his eyelids. The
danger is from my aunt."

"Esther sleepeth!" the Doctor sententiously replied. "Ellen, you have
been watching on this rock, to-day?"

"I was ordered to do so."

"And you have seen the bison, and the antelope, and the wolf, and the
deer, as usual; animals of the orders, pecora, belluae, and ferae."

"I have seen the creatures you named in English, but I know nothing of
the Indian languages."

"There is still an order that I have not named, which you have also
seen. The primates--is it not true?"

"I cannot say. I know no animal by