be--together and--"

And it ended in this: that her chin commenced to quiver, the beautiful
eyes changed into two fountains, and in the end she leaned her head on
Stas' arm and wept from sorrow, longing, and joy at the thought of the
future meeting. And Stas, allowing his imagination to roam into the
future, divined that his father would be proud of him; that he would
say to him: "You behaved as became a Pole;" and intense emotion
possessed him and in his heart was bred a longing, ardor, and courage
as inflexible as steel. "I must," he said to himself, "rescue Nell. I
must live to see that moment." And at such moments it seemed to him
that there were no dangers which he was not able to overcome nor
obstacles which he could not surmount.

But it was yet far to the final victory. In the meantime they were
making their way through the acacia grove. The long thorns of these
trees even made white marks upon the King's hide. Finally the grove
became thinner and across the branches of the scattered trees could be
seen in the distance a green jungle. Stas, notwithstanding that the
heat was very oppressive, slipped out of the palanquin and sat on the
elephant's neck to see whether there were any herds of antelopes or
zebras within view, for he wished to replenish his supply of meat.

In fact, on the right side he espied a herd of ariels, composed of a
few head, and among them two ostriches, but when they passed the last
clump of trees and the elephant turned to the left, a different sight
struck the eyes of the boy. At the distance of about a third of a mile
he observed a large manioc field and at the border of the field between
ten and twenty black forms apparently engaged at work in the field.

"Negroes!" he exclaimed, turning to Nell.

And his heart began to beat violently. For a while, he hesitated as to
whether he should turn back and hide again in the acacias, but it
occurred to him that, sooner or later, he would have to meet the
natives in populated districts and enter into relations with them, and
that the fate of the whole traveling party might depend upon how those
relations were formed; so, after brief reflection, he guided the
elephant towards the field.

At the same moment Kali approached and, pointing his hand at a clump of
trees, said:

"Great master! That is a negro village and there are women working at
the manioc. Shall I ride to them?"

"We will ride together," Stas answered, "and then you shall tell