ck Bones' boot.

"Shut your eyes, baby," said Bones, and fired into the brown. Then he
ran for his life. Over roots and fallen trees he fell and stumbled, his
tiny passenger yelling desperately.

"Oh, shut up!" snarled Bones, "what the dickens are you shouting
about--hey? Haven't I saved your young life, you ungrateful little
devil?"

Now and again he would stop to consult his illuminated compass. That the
pursuit continued he knew, but he had the dubious satisfaction of
knowing, too, that he had left the path and was in the forest.

Then he heard a faint shot, and another, and another, and grinned.

His pursuers had stumbled upon a party of Houssas.

From sheer exhaustion the baby had fallen asleep. Babies were
confoundedly heavy--Bones had never observed the fact before, but with
the strap of his sword belt he fashioned a sling that relieved him of
some of the weight.

He took it easier now, for he knew M'bisibi's men would be frightened
off. He rested for half an hour on the ground, and then came a snuffling
leopard walking silently through the forest, betraying his presence
only by the two green danger-lamps of his eyes.

Bones sat up and flourished his lamp upon the startled beast, which
growled in fright, and went scampering through the forest like the great
cat that he was.

The growl woke Bones' charge, and he awoke hungry and disinclined to
further sleep without that inducement and comfort which his nurse was in
no position to offer, whereupon Bones snuggled the whimpering child.

"He's a wicked old leopard!" he said, "to come and wake a child at this
time of the night."

The knuckle of Bones' little finger soothed the baby, though it was a
poor substitute for the nutriment it had every right to expect, and it
whimpered itself to sleep.

Lieutenant Tibbetts looked at his compass again. He had located the
shots to eastward, but he did not care to make a bee-line in that
direction for fear of falling upon some of the enemy, whom he knew would
be, at this time, making their way to the river.

For two hours before dawn he snatched a little sleep, and was awakened
by a fierce tugging at his nose. He got up, laid the baby on the soft
ground, and stood with arms akimbo, and his monocle firmly fixed,
surveying his noisy companion.

"What the dooce are you making all this row about?" he asked
indignantly. "Have a little patience, young feller, exercise a little
_suaviter in modo_, dear old baby!"

Bu