he forest next day.

"Vy, it is next day already!" he exclaimed, consulting his watch.

"Just so. Now _do_ turn in."

"I vill."

And he did.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

A TRYING ORDEAL--DANGER THREATENS AND FLIGHT AGAIN RESOLVED ON.

When the early birds are singing, and the early mists are scattering,
and the early sun is rising to gladden, as with the smile of God, all
things with life in earth and sea and sky--then it is that early-rising
man goes forth to reap the blessings which his lazy fellow-man fails to
appreciate or enjoy.

Among the early risers that morning was our friend Moses. Gifted with
an inquiring mind, the negro had proceeded to gratify his propensities
by making inquiries of a general nature, and thus had acquired, among
other things, the particular information that the river on the banks of
which the village stood was full of fish. Now, Moses was an ardent
angler.

"I lub fishing," he said one day to Nigel when in a confidential mood;
"I can't tell you how much I lub it. Seems to me dat der's nuffin' like
it for proggin' a man!"

When Nigel demanded an explanation of what proggin' meant, Moses said he
wasn't quite sure. He could "understand t'ings easy enough though he
couldn't allers 'splain 'em." On the whole he thought that prog had a
compound meaning--it was a combination of poke and pull "wid a flavour
ob ticklin' about it," and was rather pleasant.

"You see," he continued, "when a leetle fish plays wid your hook, it
progs your intellec' an' tickles up your fancy a leetle. When he grabs
you, dat progs your hopes a good deal. When a big fish do de same, dat
progs you deeper. An' when a real walloper almost pulls you into de
ribber, dat progs your heart up into your t'roat, where it stick till
you land him."

With surroundings and capacities such as we have attempted to describe,
it is no wonder that Moses sat down on the river-bank and enjoyed
himself, in company with a little Malay boy, who lent him his bamboo rod
and volunteered to show him the pools.

But there were no particular pools in that river. It was a succession
of pools, and fish swarmed in all of them. There were at least fifteen
different species which nothing short of an ichthyologist could
enumerate correctly. The line used by Moses was a single fibre of bark
almost as strong as gut; the hook was a white tinned weapon like a small
anchor, supplied by traders, and meant originally for service in the
deep