ep, you two, for there is great
need for us ahead."

Without more ado the two "young lions" rolled themselves in their
blankets and enjoyed the rare luxury of an untroubled sleep, and
when they awoke they were in a vast lagoon, out of which stood the
bleached skeletons of dead trees, with gaunt bare branches, in all
manner of fantastic shapes. But it was only the trees that were
dead, for the astonished eyes of the boys rested on such a
multiplicity of animal life as they had never before seen. Birds
roosted on the aforesaid dead branches--sooty ibis, white pelicans,
crows, kingfishers, and here and there, like sentinels on the
topmost branches, a white-headed eagle, with his hooked bill,
dominating the scene. Wheeling through the air were strings of duck
and wisps of snipe in battalions, rows of cranes with their long
legs trailing, and on the surface of the smooth water, on scores of
small islands, formed originally by uprooted trees, and under the
water, there were yet innumerable creatures. It was certainly grand
hunting for all. There were flies and gnats for the frogs, tadpoles
and the spawn of frogs for the little fishes, little fishes were
preyed on by the ducks and the big fishes, while the birds and the
big fishes in turn provided breakfast, dinner, and supper for the
crocodiles. Apparently the crocodiles were too tough, too musky, and
too powerful, to serve as food for any other animal higher up in the
scale; but it is not to be supposed that they had merely to open
their jaws to snatch a meal, for there were shallows all about where
the waders could go to sleep in peace, standing on one leg. And
there they stood, regiments of them--crested cranes, blue cranes,
black ibis, pink ibis, flamingoes, and wild geese.. And the noise
was tremendous!

The Okapi sailed under a gentle breeze right into the thick of this
sportsman's paradise, and from the low islands armies of mosquitoes
gaily advanced to meet her until they formed a moving cloud around
her, only kept off from eating up the crew by the merciful
intervention of the canvas awning and mosquito curtains.

"What a magnificent specimen of the spoonbill bittern," groaned
Venning. "If we had only brought an air-gun--for I suppose we cannot
fire."

"Look at those fat geese in a row," said Compton. "What a stew they
would make. Just one shot, sir."

"It won't do," said Mr. Hume. "A single shot would raise noise
enough to wake the seven sleepers."

"The