efuge. No one glanced behind. In
imagination they felt the hot breath on their necks and heard the soft
patter through the grass.

Then the refuge was before them, a tall column of rock rising from a
clump of jungle grass and some low, stunted timber.

It towered up in ledges and in a trice Canaris had sprung upon the first
platform, and extended a helping hand to his companions.

With frantic haste they climbed another jutting ledge and pulled
themselves to the top. None too soon, for as they turned to look, the
big lion sprang into the air and landed with a roar of baffled rage on
the ledge beneath.

He rose instantly for another spring, but as he reared upward Guy
brought down the butt of his rifle on the massive head, and the beast
rolled down into the grass at the foot of the rock.

Another lion loomed up in the shadows, and together the two paced about,
lashing their tails and growling with fury.

"That was a narrow escape," said Guy. "A moment more and we would have
been caught."

"We're not altogether safe yet," replied Canaris. "Those are hungry
looking brutes, and it's hard to tell what they may do. We must remain
quiet and watch them closely."

The two lions continued to prowl up and down, licking their chops and
occasionally glancing at the top of the rock. Suddenly they halted in
the middle of their beat, and, pricking up their ears, assumed an
expectant attitude.

"They hear something," said Guy. "I wonder what it can be."

For a full minute the two noble beasts stood like bits of statuary, not
a muscle quivering, their tails slowly waving to and fro. Then with a
couple of bounds they vanished in the high grass.

"The siege is raised," exclaimed Guy, breathing a low sigh of relief.

"Hush," replied Canaris, "not a sound, not a whisper for your lives.
Down, down, crouch low; throw yourselves flat!"

His voice was tremulous with sudden fear, and his hand shook as he
pointed one nerveless finger in the direction taken by the lions.

"Look, look!" he muttered with chattering teeth. "One sound and we are
doomed."

CHAPTER XVII.

A CLOSE SHAVE.

The Greek's extreme terror sprang from no insignificant cause. Over the
crest of a ridge some thirty yards distant came a large body of men. It
was very evident that they would pass close to the rock, and the three
fugitives, crouching on its flat surface in the gloom, may well be
par