in his
fate making me think little about my own; and as I watched now the
black, now the savages grouped about armed with spear and club, I saw
that his dangerous position had so excited Jimmy that he was quite
reckless. He had no means of attack or defence left save his tongue,
and this he began to use in another way.

He had abused his captors till he had exhausted his list of available
words, and now in token of derision he gave me another instance to study
of the childish nature of even a grown-up savage. For, tied up
helplessly there, he put out his tongue at his enemies, thrust it into
his cheeks, and displayed it in a variety of ways.

Jimmy was possessed of a very long tongue, unusually large for a human
being, and this he shot out, turned down, curled up at the end, and
wagged from side to side as a dog would his tail. At the same time he
contorted and screwed his face up into the most hideous grimaces,
elongating, flattening, and working his countenance as easily as if it
had been composed of soft wax, till at times his aspect was perfectly
hideous.

Every moment I expected to see a spear thrown or the savages rush at
Jimmy with their clubs; but they retained their composure, simply gazing
at him, till Jimmy grew weary, and, full of contempt, shouting out
something about poor black fellow dingoes, and then shutting his eyes
and pretending to go to sleep.

My guard was, like me, so intent upon the scene that he did not hear a
slight rustling noise in the darker corner of the hut.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

HOW I HAD A VISITOR IN THE NIGHT.

The sufferings I had gone through and the excitement must have made me
in a feverish state, so that, though I heard the faint noise again and
again, I began to look upon it as dreaming, and nothing which need
trouble me. Even the sight of Jimmy bound to the tree, and now hanging
forward with his head sidewise, did not seem to disturb me. It, too,
appeared part of a dream, and my eyes kept closing, and a peculiar hot
sensation running over my face.

Then this passed off and my brain grew clear, and it was not a dream,
but real, while the thought now began to torment me, that as the savages
were conferring together it must be about how they should put poor Jimmy
to death.

There was the faint noise again, and I glanced at the savage who was my
guard, but he had not heard it apparently, for he was chipping and
carving away at the handle of his waddy, only look