Part 23 (1/2)

They blazed up, and by the light he rearranged the other stacks of fuel He realized that he could easily be struck down by a leopard if he ventured away fro his fires in the shape of a cross, one at the top, one at the bottom, one on each side, and space inside for him to lie down

Inside he made a bed of reeds, from which he could draw supplies as they were needed He fired the top pile, and then, after a long wait, the bottoht was far advanced, he stretched hilowed like four red eyes in the dark

He looked up at the stars for a long tiround, and then dropped into an uneasy sleep So awoke him very soon, and his eyes opened on the dark vault above A boorunt of a lion this time, but far off--a deep monotonous sound round It was very far off, and with a sigh of relief he closed his eyes And then he heard the sound again, and kneas not the lion that had awakened him He rose on his elbow and peered about, but the darkness ca white now instead of red He placed a handful of dry reeds on the nearest heap and blew There was a glow, a flicker, and then a flare In the reflection he saw dimly a patch of white, then another patch next it This roused hiain, and, with his rifle ready, he stood up to see what manner of visitors these ith the white ht noises as he fed the fires, and now the reeds rustled, but he could see no living for down, he laid a few handfuls of reeds ready to each fire, then waited with shaken nerves, for there was so mysterious about this visitation

The fires flared up and sunk back to red en The ean anew, and the white objects reappeared He turned his head, and saw that they stretched right round! What the dickens were they? He strained his sight, and, at first indistinctly and then clearly, he saw the gleam of eyes above each white patch Softly he laid a few reeds on the embers, and as they crackled he saw one of the white objects move As the flame mounted up, henervously at the fire It was a wild-dog! Only a dog, and with a ”shoo!” he thought to scare the creature off The yellow eyes went froue slithered out over the black nose, and the dog sat down again All round were the white breasts of the pack, as they sat in silence and stared He searched about for aleapt up and sniffed

The circle seeave back a yelp, but never stirred

”All right,” he said grimly, then aimed at a white breast and fired

The pack scattered into the reeds; there was a beating and kicking noise, followed by a wild rush, a savage snarling and snapping of teeth Dog was eating dog; and, with a feeling of disgust and contempt, he prepared hiain, and the silent inspection was continued

This got on his nerves, and, springing over the fire with his rifle clubbed, he gave teeping blows The dogs slipped away frorowls on his flank He leapt back to safety and fired; but the light was bad, and he azine rapidly, facing all parts of the circle, andthat went up

”There!” he shouted savagely, ”will that satisfy you?” The pack fell upon the wounded, and was back again into position, co closer and closer as the fires died down

Then he remembered the stories he had heard of the persistence of the wild-dogs--how they would drive off even a lion froes There were only five left

He counted the dogs There were more than fifteen, as far as he could reckon; and if he reduced them to ten, he could not hope to withstand the final rush of ten big-jawed and active animals Even if he could keep them off in that open space, he could not stay there another day; and if they tackled hian to rack his brain for a scheht, the circle closed in until quite plainly he could distinguish the staring eyes all centered upon hi up they fell back As the flanal He kept on adding to the fires until his fingers, groping for fresh reeds, found none, and the sweat broke out on his forehead In one hour at least there would not be light enough fro heaps for hi had to be done!

No doubt the watchful eyes saw the sign of fear in his face At once the circle closed in, and this ti, but standing, as if ready for the final spring He fingered a cartridge, then suddenly flung it into the top ash The eyes of the pack followed thelooked at the heap As they looked there was a report, and a h and wide, over thee of reeds With wild yelps of fear and pain the pack broke, and Coround with his hands before his face, for he had flattened hi dust, soet into his eyes A little fly in the eye, as e the entire attention for five uish to the square inch; and when Co his inflamed vision upon the scene, a transfor interval The air was full of a sharp crackling and little explosions, and the first thing he saas a slender tongue of flah above Other fla the withered white sheaths that had dropped off, andpuff of wind, which rustled over the bending tops and fanned the little serpent-tongues of fire into one devouring fla his knife to cut down a sheaf of stems, he made a flail of these, and beat out the fire to ard And as he worked on the one side of the little clearing the fire grew on the other side, and then raced along, leaving behind in the blackened area many separate fires, where masses of reeds had been beaten down And the s cloud that blotted out the sky--went up and fortunately rolled away towards the great river under the sufficient strength of the wind; otherwise he would have been suffocated The cracking of the reeds was like rifle-fire breaking through the roar of the fla of animals on the stampede could be heard He looked out upon his ith awe, stood and gazed spellbound, wondering if such a sea of fla that it would spread out into the bush beyond, and run up into the forest and devour every tree until stopped by the hty river itself As he looked, he heard so in the blackened track of the fire, and presently heits powerful tail Going near with cautious steps, he put it out of its misery with a ball under the forearround very slowly, for the burnt reeds were like sharp stakes to the feet And as he followed, the fire died out before hi back through the reeds against the wind

Then he heard the report of a gun, and as he stepped frorass that had offered no fuel for the fire, so around hier it was off with a yelp into the darkness under the canopy of smoke ”Coo-ee--coo-ee! Compton--ahoy! Compton!”

Compton croaked and hobbled on

Then the creature yelped about hi him by the hands

”You know,” he said with a croak, ”I didn't mean to set fire to the place”

”Thank God, my boy, you did,” said Mr Hume, fervently Then he lifted the boy up in his arms

”I can walk,” said Compton; and, to prove it, his head rolled helplessly on his shoulder

Mr Hume strode off to the river, and washed the layer of soot off the blackened face, laved the red eyes, and ave the boy a soothing drink, rubbed oil on his feet and face; rolled hiround under the precipice

CHAPTER XI

A TRAP

In thethey packed up and made their way upstream to the place where they had left the sections of the Okapi, for such a banner of s reeds was bound to attract inspection fro-place undisturbed, and, after putting the boat together, went on down to the Congo Slipping out upon the great river in the dusk, they went on slowly for several miles, tied up till the early dawn, and spread the little sail to the ular appearance, for strips of biltong were suspended fro been quite cured, and the buffalo-hide was hanging over the side, in soak, to soften it for the final treatment that would take the hair off and leave it soft and pliant

Compton was allowed a day off, and slept the sleep of the tired; but the others were all occupied--one keeping watch, another steering, and the third cleaning up The jackal, like Compton, was une one eye occasionally to see that all was shi+pshape Through the , as outlook-ue--