red yards, and the camp was a
smoking ruin strewn with the dead. The walls of the Nest still stood,
however, and here and there a charred post remained. Everything else was
gone, except the magazine, which had escaped the flames, being built of
brick and stone, and roofed with tin.

The adventurers looked around them in silence, then they looked at
each other. What a spectacle they presented in the clear light of
the morning, as they stood by the gun which had done them such signal
service! All were begrimed with smoke and powder, and their clothes were
burnt by the falling sparks. Leonard's throat was a mass of bruises, his
hands and face were bleeding, and he was so stiff and hurt that he could
scarcely move. Soa's hair was singed and cut by the bullet which had
shaved her head; the priest's robe hung in charred threads, and his
hands were blistered with fire; Juanna's broidered Arab dress, torn by
the brutal hand of Pereira, scarcely retained a trace of white, and her
long dark locks were tangled and powdered with bits of blackened reed.
All were utterly exhausted--that is, all except Otter, who advanced
to speak to Leonard, begrimed and stripped to the waist, but fresh and
fierce as ever.

"What is it, Otter?" he asked.

"Will the Baas let me take these men," and he nodded towards the freed
slaves who had belonged to the Settlement, "and hunt through the
camp yonder? Many of the devils still live, and wounded snakes strike
hardest."

"As you like," answered Leonard. "Arm them with anything you can find,
and search the camp thoroughly. But be careful."

In ten minutes Otter was gone with the men. Then Leonard and the others
fetched water and washed as best they might, the guard-house being
assigned to Juanna and Soa, who made their toilet with the help of a
comb they found in it. There also they discovered food, the rations of
the sentry, of which they ate with such appetite as they might, and a
plentiful supply of meal for the slaves.

As they were finishing their breakfast Otter returned unharmed, though
of the men who accompanied him five were missing. With him also were two
of the four Settlement men who had been sent to fire the reeds on the
previous night. They were much exhausted, for their task had been no
easy one, and fortunately for Leonard it was only after long delay that
they succeeded in it. Their two companions were dead: one had been taken
by an alligator in the water, and the other had fallen