14 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



the heavens to cheer and to guide such unfortu- 

 nate wretches as himself the Southern Cross. 

 Where were Paul and Charley, his faithful gun 

 bearer and tent boy? Were they dead or alive? 

 those brave fellows who had shared his fate so 

 many years and who had borne with him the 

 burdens of hardship and danger when other men 

 of far more intelligence would have collapsed in 

 despair. 



By daybreak he had placed many a mile 

 between himself and his enemies, so once more 

 he built a fire, cooked the last of his meat and 

 then slept until dark. 



About noon of the following day he reached a 

 village the chief of which had, not many months 

 before, befriended a fellow elephant hunter who, 

 like himself, had fallen a victim to savage 

 treachery. It was some time before S. could 

 explain why he was travelling alone and without 

 a gun or food. Finally, he made the chief under- 

 stand. The old fellow was greatly alarmed, and 

 said that the traveller must move on at once, for, 

 if discovered, his presence would surely get the 

 chief into trouble with the tribe that had made 

 the attack, of which he was in great fear. The 

 black gave him food and a guide, and once more 



