rters, for a few days, while he made excursions to other
places within a day's ride. It was a good place for a halt;
standing as it did at some height on the hills, where the air was
much cooler at night than in the flat country. It was surrounded by
a clearing of about a hundred acres in extent; planted with cacao
trees, pepper, and many kinds of vegetables.

"This is delightful!" Harry said, as they sat in front of the hut
that had been cleared for them, and looked over the plain. "It must
be twenty degrees cooler, here, than it was at Prome. I think I
shall do nothing tomorrow, Stanley, but just sit here and enjoy
myself. I know it is very lazy, for I am feeling quite myself
again; still, after ten days' riding, I do think that it will be
pleasant to have a day's rest."

"Do, by all means," Stanley said. "I think you had better stay here
for the three days that we shall remain. Your man is a very good
cook, and there is no lack of food. Those chickens we had just now
were excellent, and the people have promised to bring in some game,
tomorrow. There are plenty of snakes, too; and you lose a good
deal, I can assure you, by turning up your nose at them. They are
just as good as eels, as Meinik cooks them--stewed with a blade of
cinnamon, and some hot peppers. I cannot see that they can be a bit
more objectionable to eat than eels; indeed, for anything one
knows, the eel may have been feasting on a drowned man, the day
before he was caught; while the snakes only take a meal once a week
or so, and then only a small bird of some kind."

"I dare say that you are quite right, Stanley, and I own that the
dishes your man turns out look tempting; but I cannot bring myself
to try, at any rate as long as I can get anything else to eat. If I
knew that it was a case of snake, or nothing, I would try it; but
till then, I prefer sticking to birds and beasts."

The next morning Stanley rode off, with two of his escort and
Meinik, who declined altogether to be left behind.

"No, master," he said, "there is never any saying when you may want
me; and what should I ever say to myself if misfortune were to come
to you, and I were not to be there?"

Stanley had a long day's work. As a rule, the villagers had few
complaints to make but, at the place he went to on this occasion,
the headman had been behaving as in the old times; and Stanley had
to listen to a long series of complaints on behalf of the
villagers. The case was fully pr