er, till it was of a vivid orange.

"Morning," said Rob half aloud; and feeling quite light-hearted at the
prospect of daylight and breakfast, he sat up and looked round him at
the positions, now dimly seen, of his companions, and was just thinking
of rousing up the men to see to the fire, when the latter took his
attention, and he turned to see if it was still glowing.

For some minutes he could not make out the exact spot where it had been
made. It was in a little natural clearing about twenty yards from the
bank, but the early morning was still too dark for him to make out
either bank or clearing, till all at once a faint puff of air swept over
the lake, and as it passed the boat, going toward the forest, there was
a faint glow, as of phosphorescence, trembling in one particular spot,
and he knew that it must be caused by the fanning of the embers.

That faint light was only visible for a few moments, then all was dark
again, but it was a transparent darkness, gradually growing clearer.
Then a tree seemed to start up on the scene, and a clump of bushes
nearer the fire. Soon after he could make out a great patch of feathery
green, and this had hardly grown clear enough for him to be certain what
it was, when something misty and undefined appeared to be moving along
the bank close to the tree to which the boat was tethered. The next
moment it melted away into the soft darkness.

"Fancy!" said Rob to himself. But directly after he knew it was not
fancy, for he could hear a peculiar scratching, rending sound, which put
him in mind of a cat tearing with its claws at the leg of a table.

And now as if by magic there was a soft warm glow diffused around, and,
to his surprise and delight, he saw again the object he had before
noticed, but no longer undefined. It was grey, and looked transparent,
but it was a warm-grey, and grew moment by moment less transparent,
gradually assuming the shape of his friend of the previous day, alive
and to all appearances uninjured, as, with its soft, elastic, cat-like
step and undulating body and tail, it walked slowly down to the edge of
the bank, and stood staring at Rob as if waiting for him to speak.

For a few moments the lad was silent and motionless, as he strove hard
to detect signs of injury upon the soft, coat of the puma, but nothing
was visible, and the animal remained as motionless as he, save that the
long tail writhed and curled about as a snake might if gently held by