to the air. Now, if Mildmay should happen to
notice four distinct columns of smoke rising above the tree-tops--"

"Of course," interrupted von Schalckenberg, "he would at once connect
them with us, and would come in the _Flying Fish_ to investigate. It
shall be done at once."

And, turning away, he forthwith entered into energetic conversation with
'Msusa, which ultimately resulted in that savage giving certain
instructions to his friends, who, after a tremendous amount of palaver,
interspersed with frequent references from 'Msusa to the professor, at
length set to work to gather four large piles of branches, dry leaves,
and other combustibles, which they proceeded to arrange on spots
indicated by von Schalckenberg. As soon as the piles were of sufficient
size to yield a good dense body of smoke they were simultaneously
ignited by the four white men--by the simple agency of an ordinary
match, to the intense astonishment and admiration of the blacks--and
then the quartette sat down patiently to await events, while 'Msusa and
his friends, incited thereto by the professor, continued to pile upon
the fires further quantities of grass, green branches, and other things
calculated to produce the maximum quantity of smoke. The result was
that in a few minutes four distinct columns of brownish-grey smoke were
going up straight into the sky, some hundreds of feet above the tops of
the highest trees, and finally spreading out and mingling into one great
cloud that would be distinctly visible, in that atmosphere, anywhere
within a distance of twenty miles.

Lethbridge leaned back on his elbow and contemplated the four tall smoke
columns with an expression of very considerable satisfaction.

"That ought to prove effective; and I am prepared to bet that it will,
within the next quarter of an hour," he remarked. "But what was all the
talk about, Professor? You seemed to have some difficulty in persuading
those fellows to build the fires, I thought."

"Yes," admitted von Schalckenberg, "I had. The fact is that, for some
reason which I do not understand, 'Msusa is very anxious that we should
remain in the village all night; and, since he has already discovered
that force will not avail with us, he is now trying guile. He
understands perfectly well some of the things I say to him; but when I
told him that we wanted a guide to lead us to the river, he professed to
be unable to understand me clearly, and replied by gabbling wha