386 



ATTACKED IN FRONT AND REAR. 



The brightly-burning fire, the tall, column-like trees, with the dense vegetation 

 below, the running vines, resembling long serpents, winding in and out among the 

 limbs ; the unconscious figures stretched near the fire, the two horses close by, the 

 strange, shrill cries that now and then trembled from the depths of the jungle, the 

 myriads of insects fluttering in the smoke over the flames, and occasionally a soft 

 rustling of the leaves and undergrowth, which showed that some beast was moving 

 stealthily about the camp and seeking an opening through which to leap upon the 



THB NYLGHAU. 



unconscious ones all these helped to make up a picture which, once seen, could 

 never be forgotten. 



Dick paced back and forth with the monotonous regularity of a military sentinel 

 on duty, until he observed that the fire was beginning to subside. Then he leaned 

 his rifle against the tree that supported the back of the sleeping Mr. Godkin, and, 

 taking up several armfuls from the pile of branches, threw them on the burning 

 sticks. Withdrawing a few paces, he watched the crackling flames, which blazed 

 up so high that the area of illumination was doubled. It struck him, while viewing 

 the fire, that there was a singular agitation in the upper part, among the last sticks 



