risk of lighting a fire.
It was not likely that British patrols would be wandering through the
dense tropical vegetation during the hours of darkness.

Under the wide-spreading branches of a baobab the Hun was able to make
one fire serve his purpose. Ordinarily he would have lighted three or
four at a distance of five or six yards from each other, and thus found
comparative immunity from the attacks of lions and hippos, but the
baobab--it reminded him of a certain incident when he was "attached" to
the Haussas--was able to protect both rear and flank from the voracious
assaults of any four-footed creatures.

As the fire blazed brightly von Gobendorff consumed his last ration--a
small cube of highly-concentrated food, which he had in his possession
on the development of the attack on M'ganga. Throughout his flight,
although tormented with the pangs of hunger, he had resolutely refused
to draw upon his scanty commissariat. And now it was eaten: for the
rest of his journey he would have to depend upon his wits to obtain
food. Rather grimly he reflected that an automatic .302, although an
efficient "man-stopper" in a _melee_, was not to be compared with a
rifle as a means of procuring food.

Although inured to exposure in a tropical country von Gobendorff was
feeling severely the effect of the sun upon his insufficiently
protected limbs. In the rapidly cooling air his blistered skin was
stretched so tightly that every movement of his neck, arms and legs
gave him intense pain. The mosquitoes, owing to the glare of the
burning wood, had ceased their attacks, but the effect of their
previous onslaughts was greatly in evidence.

Slowly and carefully lying down on a pile of broad leaves the Hun tried
to fall asleep, but in vain. Racked in every limb, his head throbbing
as if it harboured a rapidly working piston, he endured--waiting for
the dawn that would give him no respite from his torments.

Presently the denizens of the forest began their nocturnal activities.
In the sluggishly-flowing river hippopotami floundered noisily.
Elephants crashed through the brushwood making their way to the water,
while at intervals rhinoceri and bush-cows charged blindly past the
fiercely burning fire. Von Gobendorff was in a big game hunter's
paradise, but he failed utterly to show enthusiasm at the prospect.

At intervals he crawled to his reserve stock of fuel to replenish the
fire, knowing that if he allowed the comforting and