both munching
their grain quietly.

"Well, you see the horses are not frightened; so you may be sure
that whatever were the noises you heard, there was nothing
unnatural about them. What were they like?"

The question was not answered for, at that moment, a sound like a
loud deep sigh was heard overhead. The natives started back; and
even Stanley felt, for a moment, uncomfortable.

"It is only the wind," he said. "There must be some opening above
there; and the wind makes a noise in it, just as it does in a
chimney. We will see all about it, in the morning.

"Now, as to the noises outside."

"They were wailing cries," the man said.

"Pooh! They must have been tigers or leopards, or perhaps only wild
cats. No doubt they smelt you and the horses, but were too much
afraid of the fire to come any nearer. Why, you must have heard
tigers often enough to know their cries."

"I thought myself that they were tigers," the man said, rather
shamefacedly, "but the boys said they were certain that they were
not; and I was not sure, myself, one way or the other."

Sitting down by the fire, Stanley told the men the exact position
of the prisoners; and said that he feared it would be altogether
impossible to get Harry out, for the present.

"I would give anything to have him here," he said; "but it would be
impossible to get him over the palisade."

"We might cut through it, master," Meinik said. "With a sharp saw
we could cut a hole big enough, in an hour, to carry his litter
out. The only thing is, we could not get his bed through that
window."

"We might get over that, by making a narrow litter," Stanley said,
"and lifting him from the bed on to it. The difficulty would be,
what to do with him when we got him out? As to carrying him any
distance, in his present state it would be out of the question;
besides, the guard are sure to be vigilant, for some considerable
time. I think that the best plan would be for you all to go back to
your village, tomorrow, taking the horses with you; and for one of
you to come over, every other day, for orders. Then there would be
no occasion for anyone to watch the horses. They certainly will be
of no use to us, at present, for it will be weeks before my cousin
is strong enough to ride.

"Meinik and I will take up our abode close to the edge of the
forest, for that will save us some four or five miles' walk, each
day. The first thing in the morning, you shall go with me and
choose a