their progress was at first very slow, though not so much
slower than it would have been had they to force a way through the
undergrowth below; and the river-man found his work cut out to keep
pace underneath when at times he encountered dense thickets.

By the time they had covered the three hundred yards and reached the
next platform, they were finding their "tree-legs."

They stopped a while to take their bearings, looking out on the same
unbroken expanse of tree-tops, tossed up into all manner of
inequalities, and then recommenced their acrobatic, performance,
making for the next "station." With a few slips, a few scratches,
and bruised shins, they kept on until they had covered about a mile,
when the growing dusk warned them to form camp.

"We'd better go down below," said Mr. Hume.

"Not I," said Venning. "I had enough of down below last night; I'm
going to sleep on deck, sir."

"Ditto," said Compton, emphatically; "and I don't see why we all
should not camp out aloft. We could easily widen the platform, rig
up the waterproof sheets as a tent, and haul up some mould to make a
fireplace."

The idea was acted upon vigorously, the platform widened and
strengthened, the roof pitched, the mould hauled up in a bag made
out of one of the leopard skins, and the fire lit upon a foundation
so made. They roosted high and secure, but they could not claim in
the morning that they had passed a pleasant night, for the bed was
hard, the space cramped, and each one dreamt he was falling off a
tremendously high perch. Moreover, sound travelled more freely up
above, and, in place of the brooding silence of the under-world,
there were many strange noises up aloft, the most menacing being an
occasional booming roar, which they recognized as the cry of the
gorilla.

The morning was wet as usual, and heavy clouds trailed over the
forest like a leaden mist on the sea. They crouched under the tent,
listening to the drip, drip, drip, and filling their water-bottles
from the tricklings. About ten the clouds lifted, and then the sun
drove his arrows through until, almost in a twinkling, the great wet
blanket rolled itself up and vanished swiftly into the horizon,
leaving behind the sparkling of myriad raindrops on the leaves. Then
for an hour the forest steamed, as the sun licked the drops off the
roof and chased the moisture along the boughs. When the way was
dried for them, they went on, going barefooted this time, for the
bett