aking camp where we were,
and cutting the meat up into strips to dry, while, apparently on the
principle of making their hay while the sun shone, the blacks lit a fire
and had a tremendous feast, both Jack Penny and I laughing heartily to
see the solemn face of Jimmy as he devoted himself to the task of
storing up an abundance of food, ready for emergencies.

At our table, as the doctor called it, we contented ourselves with the
turkey-like bird, which was delicious, but we tasted the wild pig, a
piece of which, fairly well roasted, was brought to us in the most
solicitous manner by Ti-hi, who smiled contentedly as he saw us begin to
partake thereof.

We set it aside, though, as soon as the black had gone, for the doctor
pronounced it strong and musky, and Jack Penny behaved very rudely,
according to the ordinary etiquette of the dinner table, and exclaimed:

"Oh, law!"

It was a glorious sunset, and the place where we were encamped, as we
styled it, was once more beneath a huge tree. For a time I was
listening to the birds' screams and cries from the forest, and then all
at once they ceased, and a long-drawn howl, which recalled the horrors
of our night-watch, arose from a distance. Then the sun sank, and
darkness began to come on very quickly. First the sky paled and a star
or two began to twinkle, then all above us was of a deep intense purple,
studded and encrusted with points of dazzling light, and, like the
doctor, tired out with loss of rest, I began to yawn.

For our evenings were not devoted to amusements. Our day only had two
divisions, that for work and that for rest. As soon as the arduous toil
of the day was over, and we had partaken of food, we were ready for
sleep; so this time Jack Penny was set to watch with Ti-hi and Gyp, and
we lay down on a bough-made bed.

One moment I was lying on my back gazing up at the stars, and first
thinking of my mother and how anxious she must be as to how I was
getting on; then wondering where my father was likely to be, and whether
we were going to work in the best way to find him; the next moment I was
dreaming that Gyp had run after and caught a wild man of the woods by
the tail, and had dragged him into camp, howling dismally.

It did not fit into my dream that wild men of the woods were not likely
to be possessed of tails for Gyp to tug, and if they were, that they
would have striven to crush the dog by one blow of the hand; my dream
arranged itself, and