Part 9 (1/2)

Alas! they were but few A blanket apiece--a spare pair of boots apiece--soun and the two best rifles and ammunition--a compass, a water bottle, three knives, a co-pot ht for twoacross e was divided into three loads, of which Soa's was the lightest, and that of Otter weighed as ,” he said, ”he could carry the three if need were;” and so great was the dwarf's strength that Leonard knew this to be no idle boast

At length all was prepared, and the articles that re tools It was not likely that they would ever return to seek them; more probably they will lie there till, thousands of years hence, they are dug up and becoe Still they hid the into little ingots In all there were about a hundred ounces of alold--the price of three ots he placed with the ruby in the belt about his ave to Otter, who hid them in his bundle

Leonard's first idea was to leave the bullion, because it entailed the carrying of extra weight; but he reold is always useful, and nowhere uese and Arab slave-drivers

By evening everything was ready, and when the edge of thehis load, fastened it upon his shoulders with the loops of hide which had been prepared, Otter and Soa following his exa as the state of the moon served them, for thus they would escape the terrible heat and lessen the danger of being observed

”Follow me in a few a”

The dwarf nodded A quarter of an hour later he started also with Soa and found hisa mute farewell of that which lay beneath before he left it for ever to its long sleep in the untrodden wilderness It was a , but there have been many such in the African fever belt

With one last look Leonard turned and joined his co taken counsel with them and with the compass, he set his face to the mountain and his heart to the new adventures, hopes, and fears that were beyond it The past was done with, it lay buried in yonder grave, but by the ht, and the future stretched away before hiht hirave like those which he had left, perchance wealth, love, and honour Whatever the event he would strive to nation It was not his part to ask questions or to reason why; it was his part to struggle on and take such guerdon as it pleased Providence to send hiht spirit for an adventurer to cultivate It is the right spirit in which to reatest of adventures which every one of us must dare He who meets them thus and holds his heart pure and his hands clean will lay hiret when mountain, swamp, river, and forest all are travelled, and the unknown innumerable treasure, buried froe, at last is opened to his gaze

So Leonard started, and his hopes were high notwithstanding the desperate nature of their undertaking For here it must be confessed that the undesirable element of superstition still held fast upon his ht cause Had not his brother spoken of wealth that he should win by the aid of a wo in her hand a jehich, if real, was in itself worth aalso, with the help of another woht be found? Yes, these things were so, and itaside the theory of coincidence, he began to believe that the end would be as the beginning had been, that the great adventure would be achieved and the wealth be won

We shall not need to follow the footsteps of Leonard Outram and his co ht as they had proposed They clih swamps and forests, they swam rivers Indeed one of these was in flood, and they never could have crossed it had it not been for Otter's powers of natation Six tiuns held above the water with one hand On the seventh journey he was still hted, for, with some assistance from Leonard, he must carry the woman Soa, who could swiue It was not until Otter was seen steth could be measured

Here, indeed, his stunted stature was a positive advantage, for it offered the less surface for the water to act upon

So they travelled forward, sory, sometimes full of meat, and even of ere better, of milk and corn For the country was not entirely deserted; occasionally they came to scattered kraals, and were able to obtain provisions from their peaceful inhabitants in return for soe of brass At first Leonard was afraid lest Soa should tire, but notwithstanding her years and the hardshi+ps and sufferings which she had undergone, she shoonderful endurance--endurance so wonderful that he came to the conclusion that it was her spirit which supported the frailty of her body, and the ever-present desire to rescue one who soht be, she pushed forith the rest, rarely speaking except to urge theht of their journey they halted upon the crest of a high o further;thely cold--they lay down beneath the shelter of some bushes to sleep till dawn It was Otter oke theht

There below us is the big river, and there far to the right is the sea”

They looked Soed gradually into swamp, lay that branch of the Zambesi which they would reach They could not see it, indeed, for its face was hid by a dense cloak of soft white mist that covered it like a cloud But there it on at last, and there away to the eastward shone the wide glitter of the sea, flecked with faint lines of broken billohence the sun rose in glory

”See, Baas,” said Otter, when they had satisfied theht, ”yonder, some five hours' e of the river Thither we o, for it is on the further side of those hills that the great swamp lies where the Yellow Devil has his place I know the spot well; I have passed it twice”

They rested till noonday; but that night, before the moon rose, they stood on the curve of the th she came up, and showed them a wonderful scene of desolation

Beyond the curve of hills thelower till at last they melted into the skyline

In the vast sereen islands, while between it and the high ground, over a space which varied from one mile at the narrowest to twenty e and disnant water, clothed with reeds which grew to the height of ses

The loneliness of the place was dreadful, its waste and desolation were appalling And yet it lived with a life of its own Wild fowl fleedges froators and hippopota the rushes, and fros

”Yonder runs the slave road, or yonder it once ran,” said Otter, pointing to the foot of a hill

”Let us go and see,” answered Leonard; ”we can follow it for a while and camp”

They climbed down the hill At its foot Otter cast backwards and forwards a the bushes like a hound Then he held up his hand and whistled

”I thought so,” he said, as the others drew near; ”the path is still the same Look, Baas”

As he spoke he broke down the branches of a creeping bush with his strong foot A skeleton of a wo dead,” said Otter phlegmatically, ”perhaps teeks Ah! the Yellow Devil leaves a spoor that all may follow”

Soa bent over the bones and examined them ”One of Mavoom's people,” she said; ”I know the fashi+on of the anklets”