uld be heard amid the stillness only the sizzling of
the tobacco in the pipes. The doctor gazed into the depth of the night,
after which he said in a subdued voice:

"It is already late, but sleep has deserted me. And to think that they,
if alive, are straying somewhere in the moonlight amid these dry
heathers--alone--such children! Do you remember, Glenn, the little
one's angelic countenance?"

"I remember it, and cannot forget."

"Ah, I would allow my hand to be cut off, if--"

And he did not finish, for Glenn started up suddenly as if scalded.

"A sky-rocket in the distance!" he shouted.

"A sky-rocket!" repeated the doctor.

"Some kind of caravan is ahead of us."

"Which might have found the children."

"Perhaps. Let us hurry to them."

"Forward!"

The captain's orders resounded in one moment throughout the camp. The
Zanzibarians sprang up suddenly on their feet. Soon torches were lit.
Glenn in reply to the distant signal directed that a few rockets, one
after the other, be sent up; and afterwards that the salvo of rifle
shots be continued. Before a quarter of an hour elapsed the whole camp
was on the way.

From the distance shots replied. There was no doubt that this was some
kind of European caravan, appealing, from unknown reasons, for help.

The captain and the doctor raced forward, swept alternately by fear and
hope. Would they find the children or would they not? The doctor said
in his soul that, if not, they in the further journey could seek only
for their remains amid those terrible heather-bushes.

After a half-hour one of those knobs, of which they had spoken before,
obstructed the further view of the friends. But they were already so
near that they heard distinctly the clatter of a horse's hoofs. In a
few minutes, and on the top of the elevation, appeared a rider, holding
before him a white object.

"Torches up," commanded Glenn.

In the same moment the rider brought his horse into the circle of light.

"Water! Water!"

"The children!" Doctor Clary cried.

"Water!" Stas repeated.

And he almost hurled Nell into the captain's arms and leaped out of the
saddle.

But immediately he staggered, and fell like a corpse upon the ground.

CONCLUSION

Joy in the camp of Captain Glenn and Doctor Clary was boundless, but
the curiosity of both Englishmen was subjected to a severe test. For if
previously they could not comprehend how the children by themselves
could cross those vast w