Quillimane. I have a house at Nyangue, and am
owner of a good deal of the land about here. Will the Senhor Maxara and
his fair daughter (here the sombrero was again removed) condescend to
consider my poor house at Nyangue their own for the period they may
honour me by staying?"

"I thank you, Senhor, but it may not be. The `Halcyon' brig waits us at
Quillimane, and I must needs say no. Isabel, can you not persuade the
Senhor to join us?"

"At all events, I can offer him part of my cushions," replied the lady,
"on condition he talks French, for Portuguese will not be understood by
our guests."

"Ah, the two Englishmen whom I have heard of from the Limpopo. Perhaps
you, gentlemen, will honour me with a visit?"

This, too, was impossible; and Wyzinski was in the act of explaining
why, when a loud clamour was heard among the natives, who were busy on
the sandy bank below cutting up the hippopotamus. The excitement seemed
to communicate itself to the boatmen, and, walking to the entrance, Dom
Assevedo called out, "Come here, Senhora, there is a sight seldom seen."

Looking down the stream, which was rolling slowly on its course towards
the sea, between banks where the palmyra and cocoa-palms grew in clumps,
seven elephants were swimming the river. With their trunks raised high
in the air, and their huge black bodies rolling from side to side, the
animals, notwithstanding their tremendous bulk, seemed to move with
apparent ease and pleasure to themselves.

"They are heading right for the island at the mouth of the Shire!"
exclaimed Hughes, all the spirit of the old shikaree reviving at the
sight.

"Something must have terrified them," said Dom Assevedo; "perhaps the
jungle has been fired in their rear."

"There they go--one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven, all on the
island," counted Hughes.

Dona Isabel had stood, her hands clasped, her eyes fixed on the strange
scene, a beautiful statue, the very model of mute astonishment.

"If they don't break out and take to the other bank, I can show you some
sport, now," exclaimed Assevedo.

A few minutes of breathless watching followed, not a word being spoken,
while the spiral wreaths of smoke curled up into the calm air from Dom
Francisco's cigarette. All eyes were fixed on the island. Five minutes
elapsed, lengthening into ten, and the elephants had not reappeared.

"Do any of you gentlemen speak Kaffir?" inquired Assevedo.

"I do," replied Wyzinsk