hots and both fell
with faces on the ground, flouncing about like fishes taken out of
water. One of them, who in the haste was hurt the least, raised himself
and propped himself on his hands, but at that moment Saba sunk his
fangs in his throat.

And mortal silence ensued.

It was broken only by the moans of Kali, who threw himself on his knees
and, stretching out his hands, exclaimed in the broken Kiswahili tongue:

"Bwana kubwa! (Great master!) Kill the lion! Kill bad people, but do
not kill Kali!"

Stas, however, paid no heed to his cries. For some time he stood as if
dazed; after which, observing Nell's pallid face and half-conscious
eyes, opened widely from terror, he ran towards her.

"Nell, do not fear!--Nell, we are free!"

In fact they actually were free, but astray in a wild, uninhabited
region, in the heart of the land of the Blacks.

PART SECOND

I

Before Stas and the young negro dragged the slain Arabs and the lion's
heavy body to the side of the ravine the sun had descended still more
and night was soon to fall. But it was impossible to sleep in the
vicinity of the corpses; so, though Kali stroked his stomach and
repeated, smacking with his tongue, "Msuri niama" (good meat), Stas did
not permit him to busy himself with the "niama," and instead ordered
him to catch the horses, which ran away after the shooting. The black
boy did this with extraordinary skill. Instead of running after them in
the ravine, in which case they would have sped away farther and
farther, he climbed to the top and, shortening his way by avoiding the
bends, he intercepted the startled steeds from the front. In this
manner he easily caught two; and two more he drove towards Stas. Only
Gebhr's and Chamis' horses could not be found, but at any rate four
remained, not counting the lap-eared creature, loaded with the tent and
things, who, in view of the tragic occurrences, displayed a true
philosophical calm. They found him beyond a bend, cropping closely and
without any haste the grass growing on the bottom of the ravine.

The medium-sized Sudanese horses are accustomed generally to the sight
of wild animals, but they fear lions, so it was with considerable
difficulty that they were led past the rock which was blackened with a
puddle of blood. The horses snorted, dilating their nostrils and
stretching their necks towards the blood-stained stones; nevertheless,
when the donkey, only pricking his ears a little, pa