great part of that night making entries in my note-book, by
the light of our camp-fires, while my companions slept. And, truly, I
enjoyed such quiet hours after days of so great mental and physical
excitement. I observed, also, that the negroes enjoyed those seasons
exceedingly. They sat round the blaze, talking and laughing, and
recounting, I have no doubt, their feats of daring by flood and field;
then, when they began to grow sleepy, they sat there swaying to and fro,
making an occasional remark, until they became too sleepy even for that,
when they began to nod and wink and start, and almost fell into the
fire, so unwilling did they seem to tear themselves away from it, even
for the distance of the few feet they required to draw back in order to
enable them to lie down. At last nature could hold out no longer, and
one by one they dropped back in their places.

I, too, began to nod at last, and to make entries in my note-book which
were too disjointed at last to be comprehensible; so I finally resigned
myself to repose, and to dream, as a matter of course.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

OUR PLANS ARE SUDDENLY ALTERED--WICKED DESIGNS DISCOVERED.

For several weeks after this we wandered about in the woods searching
for gorillas. We were very successful, and shot so many that I had the
satisfaction of making elaborate notes of specimens of nearly all ages
and kinds.

But an event was looming in the future which we little thought of, and
which ultimately compelled us to abandon the gorilla country and retrace
our steps towards the southern part of the continent.

One day we set out, as was our wont, to hunt for gorillas, accompanied
only by our faithful follower Makarooroo. It chanced to be a lovely
day, and the country through which we were passing was exceedingly
beautiful, so that we found more pleasure at that time in conversing
together on the beauties of nature and on the wonderful works of
nature's God than in contemplating our chances of falling in with game.

"It's a splendid country," said Jack, as we walked along under the shade
of some magnificent ebony trees. "I wish that it were inhabited by a
Christian people. Perhaps this may be the case one of these days, but I
don't think we shall live to see it."

"There's no saying, Jack," observed Peterkin. "Does not the Bible speak
of a `nation being born in a day?' Of course that must be figurative
language; nevertheless it must mean something, and I i