rayer was offered by a very old man; a hymn was sung, and
then the people dispersed to their several sections of the cave.
Finally the lights were extinguished, and the place was left in silence
and darkness profound.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

DESCRIBES A MEEK MOTHER AND CROCODILE-SON. JOURNEY RESUMED AND STRANGE
TREATMENT OF THE KING OF THE WATERS.

Dawn was still struggling to assert itself in the far east and the
depths of the forest were still shrouded in almost midnight gloom, when
the strange band of outlaws emerged from their cave, and, led by
Ravonino, went forth to search for a safer dwelling-place in the still
more inaccessible fastnesses of the wilderness.

They had not much difficulty in finding a suitable spot, for the
particular region to which they had fled from persecution was
exceedingly wild and broken in form, and abounded with concealed caverns
having outlets in several directions, so that pursuit and discovery were
alike difficult.

We may not delay here, however, to tell of their wanderings. Like the
Christians of other lands and, more ancient times, they were hunted like
wild beasts, though their only crime was a desire to serve and worship
God according to the dictates of their consciences. It is the old
familiar story, and comment is needless to those who understand it--

"Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn."

There is only one other member of the party of whom we will make mention
just now, because she appears again somewhat prominently in our tale.
This was a little elderly female who seemed utterly destitute of the
very common human attribute of self-assertion, and in whose amiable,
almost comical, countenance, one expression seemed to overbear and
obliterate all others, namely that of gushing good-will to man and
beast! Those who did not know Reni-Mamba thought her an amiable
imbecile. Those who knew her well loved her with peculiar tenderness.
Her modesty and self-abnegation were not, so far as any one knew, the
result of principle. She was too unassertive to lay claim to principle!
We are not sure that she understood the meaning of principle.

Before Christianity in its doctrinal form reached her she had only one
source of discomfort in life, and that was, that in _everything_ she
failed! Failed to do as much as she wanted to do for other people;
failed to express herself always as affectionately as she felt; failed
to avoid giving slight occasions of o