orny
plants and innumerable creepers continually barred his way, and the
necessity for constantly looking up through the trees to catch a glimpse
of the sun, which was his only guide, added to his difficulty. At
length, when his watch told him it was eleven o'clock, he came to a
standstill, the sun being too high overhead to serve him as a reliable
guide. He had now been walking for nearly six hours, and he was utterly
worn out and exhausted, having had no food since his midday meal on
the previous day. He was devoured with thirst, having merely rinsed his
mouth in the black and poisonous water of the swamps he had crossed. His
sleepless night, too, had told on him. He was bathed in perspiration,
and for the last hour had scarcely been able to drag his feet along.

He now lay down at the foot of a great tree, and for three or four hours
slept heavily. When he awoke he pursued his journey, the sun serving
as a guide again. In two hours' time he had got upon higher ground. The
brushwood was less dense, and he again turned his face to the north, and
stepped forward with renewed hopes.

It was late in the afternoon when he came upon a native path. Here he
sat down to think. He did not remember having crossed such a path on
the day before. Probably it crossed the stream at some point above the
encampment. Therefore it would serve as a guide, and he might, too, come
upon some native village where he could procure food. By following it
far enough he must arrive somewhere. He sat for a quarter of an hour to
rest himself, and then proceeded along the path, whose direction seemed
to be the northwest.

For an hour he proceeded and then paused, hearing a sudden outcry ahead.
Scampering along the path came a number of great baboons, and Frank at
once stepped aside into the bush to avoid them, as these are formidable
creatures when disturbed. They were of a very large species, and several
of the females had little ones clinging around their necks. In the
distance Frank could hear the shouts of some natives, and supposed that
the monkeys had been plundering their plantations, and that they were
driving them away. The baboons passed without paying any attention to
him, but Frank observed that the last of the troop was carrying a little
one in one of its forearms.

Frank glanced at the baby monkey and saw that it had round its waist a
string of blue beads. As a string of beads is the only attire which a
negro child wears until it re