m distant cannonading.

Stas cast a fleeting glance at Nell, and seeing her quivering chin and
moist eyes, said:

"Do not fear; don't cry."

And she answered as if with difficulty:

"I do not want to cry--only my eyes perspire--oh!"

The last ejaculation burst from her lips because at that moment from
the direction of the forest thundered a second roar even stronger than
the first for it was nearer. The horses began to push upon the zareba
and were it not for the long and hard-as-steel thorns of the acacia
branches, they would have demolished it. Saba growled and at the same
time trembled like a leaf, while Kali began to repeat with a broken
voice:

"Master, two! two! two!"

And the lions, aware of each other's presence, did not cease roaring,
and the horrible concert continued in the darkness incessantly, for
when one beast became silent the other began again. Stas soon could not
distinguish from where the sounds came, as the echoes repeated them in
the ravine; rock sent them back to rock, they ascended and descended,
filling the forest and the jungle, and the entire darkness with thunder
and fear.

To the boy one thing seemed certain, and that was that they approached
nearer and nearer. Kali perceived likewise that the lions ran about the
encampment making a smaller circle each moment, and that, prevented
from making an attack only by the glare of the flames, they were
expressing their dissatisfaction and fear by their roar.

Evidently, however, he thought that danger threatened only the horses,
as, spreading his fingers, he said:

"The lions will kill one, two, not all! not all!"

"Throw wood into the fire," repeated Stas.

A livelier flame burst forth; the roars suddenly ceased. But Kali,
raising his head and gazing upwards, began to listen.

"What is it?" Stas asked.

"Rain," replied the negro.

Stas in turn listened. The branches of the tree mantled the tent and
the whole zareba so that not a drop of rain fell upon the ground, but
above could be heard the rustle of leaves. As the sultry air was not
stirred by the slightest breeze, it was easy to surmise that it was the
rain which began to murmur in the jungle.

The rustle increased with each moment and after a time the children saw
drops flowing from the leaves, similar in the luster of the fire to
ruddy pearls. As Kali had forecast, a downpour began. The rustle
changed into a roar. Ever-increasing drops fell, and finally through
the dense fo