d to the safety of the little "bibi," the negro again
lowered the rope for Stas, but he, like a captain who is the last to
leave a sinking ship, ordered Mea to go ahead of him.

Kali did not at all need to pull her as in a moment she climbed the
rope with skill and agility as if she were the full sister of a
chimpanzee. For Stas it was considerably more difficult, but he was too
well-trained an athlete not to overcome the weight of his own body
together with the rifle and a score of cartridges with which he filled
his pockets.

In this manner all four found themselves in the tree. Stas was so
accustomed to think of Nell in every situation that now he was
occupied, above all, in ascertaining whether she was not in danger of
falling, whether she had sufficient room and whether she could lie down
comfortably. Satisfied in this respect, he began to wrack his brains as
to how to protect her from the rain. But for this there was no help. It
would have been easy to construct during the daytime some kind of roof
over her head, but now they were enveloped in such darkness that they
could not see each other at all. If the storm at last passed away and
if they succeeded in starting the fire again, they might dry Nell's
dress! Stas, with despair, thought that the little girl, soaked to the
skin, would undoubtedly on the following day suffer from the first
attack of fever.

He feared that towards the morning, after the storm, it would be as
cool as it was on the previous night. Thus far the wind was rather warm
and the rain as though heated. Stas was surprised at its persistence as
he knew that the more strongly a storm raged the shorter was its
duration.

After a long time the thunder abated and the buffets of the wind
weakened, but the rain continued to fall, less copious, indeed, than
before, but so heavy and thick that the leaves did not afford any
protection against it. From below came the murmur of water as if the
whole jungle were transformed into a lake. Stas thought that in the
ravine certain death would have awaited them. Immense sorrow possessed
him at the thought of what might have become of Saba, and he did not
dare to speak of him to Nell. He, nevertheless, had a slight hope that
the intelligent dog would find a safe haven among the rocks projecting
above the ravine. There was not, however, a possibility of going to him
with any aid.

They sat, therefore, one beside the other amid the expanding boughs,
drenched