the
breathing of those within. As soon as the European sleeps, he feels
sure of success, for the Asiatic will not long resist the attraction of
repose. At the proper moment, he makes a vertical incision in the cloth
of the tent, on the spot where he happens to be, and just large enough
to admit him. He glides through like a phantom, without making the least
grain of sand creak beneath his tread. He is perfectly naked, and all
his body is rubbed over with oil; a two-edged knife is suspended from
his neck. He will squat down close to your couch, and, with incredible
coolness and dexterity, will gather up the sheet in very little folds,
so as to occupy the least surface possible; then, passing to the other
side, he will lightly tickle the sleeper, whom he seems to magnetize,
till the latter shrinks back involuntarily, and ends by turning round,
and leaving the sheet folded behind him. Should he awake, and strive to
seize the robber, he catches at a slippery form, which slides through
his hands like an eel; should he even succeed in seizing him, it would
be fatal--the dagger strikes him to the heart, he falls bathed in his
blood, and the assassin disappears."--E. S.

CHAPTER XIX. THE SMUGGLER

The tempest of the morning has long been over. The sun is verging
towards the horizon. Some hours have elapsed, since the Strangler
introduced himself into Djalma's cabin, and tattooed him with a
mysterious sign during his sleep.

A horseman advances rapidly down a long avenue of spreading trees.
Sheltered by the thick and verdant arch, a thousand birds salute the
splendid evening with songs and circlings; red and green parrots climb,
by help of their hooked beaks, to the top of pink-blossomed acacias;
large Morea birds of the finest and richest blue, whose throats and
long tails change in the light to a golden brown, are chasing the prince
oriels, clothed in their glossy feathers of black and orange; Kolo
doves, of a changeable violet hue, are gently cooing by the side of the
birds of paradise, in whose brilliant plumage are mingled the prismatic
colors of the emerald and ruby, the topaz and sapphire.

This avenue, a little raised, commanded a view of a small pond, which
reflected at intervals the green shade of tamarind trees. In the calm,
limpid waters, many fish were visible, some with silver scales and
purple fins, others gleaming with azure and vermilion; so still were
they that they looked as if set in a mass of blui