t be enough to support two;
and even if it should be, he could hardly ask him, a total stranger, to
bestow it on him. There was his brother, who might allow him just
enough to start him in business. So at least he had intimated. But it
was unlikely that he would give him a farthing if he turned missionary--
a calling especially odious in the eyes of the residents at Cape Town at
that time. Besides, Ernest had always felt the greatest repugnance to
taking Hubert's money. No, he feared he must give it up--for the
present at all events. He must take the Indian clerkship, which Lavie
had told him he thought he could get for him. He might save money, and
then later in life perhaps--

As he sat brooding over these thoughts with his arm resting on some pine
boughs which he had gathered, he was startled by seeing a dark object
crawling out of a bush at no great distance. It passed across the
pathway, and was hidden in the scrub on the other side before he had
time to look fixedly at it. It occurred to him at once, that it might
be one of the large black snakes which infest that country, and whose
bite was said to be extremely dangerous. He paused a moment in doubt.
He could still distinguish the black mass in the shrub though very
imperfectly. Should he fire at it and take the chance of killing or
crippling it. Well, he might miss, and if so, there would be a shot
thrown away; Frank would certainly be woke up, and it was most important
for him to get a sound night's rest. At all events he would see the
object, whatever it might be, by a clearer light before firing. He
cocked his gun and rested it against his knee. Then taking a handful of
dry fir leaves, he threw them on the fire which had sunk somewhat low.
A bright blaze sprung up, and showed in strong relief the stems of the
palms and the thickets of scrub around them. But the black mass on
which his eye was fixed was hidden by the shadow of a large tree, and he
could not determine with any certainty its outline, before the blaze had
sank again. Presently he felt something creep stealthily past him, and
Lion stirred uneasily in his sleep. He seized another and a larger heap
of pine leaves; but before he could throw it on the fire, he felt his
gun seized in a gentle, but firm, grasp by the muzzle, and gradually
drawn away from him. Before he could recover from his surprise, the
lock caught against a tuft of weed and exploded. The report was
followed by a y