ey were in the thick
of it, there wasn't a single man felt afraid."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, and then he went on again:

"If men feel afraid sometimes I don't see why boys shouldn't; and as to
those chaps who go about in books killing men by the dozen, and never
feeling to mind it a bit, I think it's all gammon."

"Hist! Jack Penny, what's that?" I whispered.

There was a faint crashing noise out in the forest just then, and I knew
from the sound close by me that the black who was sharing our watch must
have been lifting his spear.

I picked up my gun, and I knew that Jack had taken up his and thrown
himself softly into a kneeling position, as we both strove to pierce the
darkness and catch sight of what was perhaps a coming enemy.

As we watched, it seemed as if the foliage of the trees high up had
suddenly come into view. There was a grey look in the sky, and for the
moment I thought I could plainly make out the outline of the bushes on
the opposite side of the gully.

Then I thought I was mistaken, and then again it seemed as if I could
distinctly see the outline of a bush.

A minute later, and with our hearts beating loudly, we heard the
rustling go on, and soon after we could see that the bushes were being
moved.

"It is the doctor," I thought; but the idea was false, I knew, for if it
had been he his way would have been down into the stream, which he would
have crossed, while, whoever this was seemed to be undecided and to be
gazing about intently as if in search of something.

When we first caught a glimpse of the moving figure it was fifty yards
away. Then it came to within forty, went off again, and all the time
the day was rapidly breaking. The tree tops were plainly to be seen,
and here and there one of the great masses of foliage stood out quite
clearly.

Just then the black, who had crept close to my side, pointed out the
figure on the opposite bank, now dimly-seen in the transparent dawn.

It was that of an Indian who had stopped exactly opposite the clump of
bushes which acted as a screen to our place of refuge, and stooping down
he was evidently trying to make out the mouth of the cave.

He saw it apparently, for he uttered a cry of satisfaction, and leaping
from the place of observation he stepped rapidly down the slope.

"He has found us out," I whispered.

"But he mustn't come all the same," said Jack Penny, and as he spoke I
saw that he was taking aim.

"Don't sh