426 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
enough in the pitchy gloom soon distinguished a dot of 
faint light twinkling in the distance over the waters. 
It did not take long to set fire to heaps of the dry grass 
which lay along the verge of the beach, and soon a 
blazing bonfire was sending its ruddy rays far across 
the darkness of the slumbering lake. My sensations as 
I watched the shifting light are now an indescribable 
memory. 
Joyful indeed it was to see the bows of a small 
LIEUTENANT V. GIRAT7D. 
steamer emerging slowly and cautiously from the gloom. 
Even at this moment of happy expectation doubts arose. 
Perhaps she had only come for anchorage, and might 
leave ere daylight; so, with all the energy I could 
muster for a last effort, I shouted “ Steamer alioy ! ” 
The vessel crept slowly up until she was within gun¬ 
shot of the shore, and by the gleam of the fires which 
the boys were keeping up upon the sands I could see 
plainly a good-sized steam launch riding upon the 
waves 
