to secure the assistance of another tribe not far distant, who, they
knew, would be too glad to pick a quarrel with that chief.

"Then we shall do it yet!" cried Jack, springing up energetically. "We
shall be in time to warn Jambai and to save Okandaga and her friends.
Come, Mak, cheer up; things begin to look better."

The cheerful, confident voice in which our friend said this raised my
hopes wonderfully, even although, on consideration, I could not see that
our chances of success were very great. Our guide was visibly
comforted, and we stepped aside to pick up our rifles with considerable
alacrity.

During the brief period in which we were thus employed, the poor woman
managed to creep away, and when we again looked round she was gone. Our
first impulse was to give chase again, but the thought of the needless
terror which that would occasion her deterred us, and before we could
make up our minds what to do she was almost beyond our reach, and would
certainly have cost us an hour of search, if not longer, to find her.
Time pressed. To reach the village of King Jambai with the utmost
possible speed was essential to the safety of the tribe, so we resolved
to leave her, feeling as we did so that the poor creature could sustain
herself on roots and berries without much difficulty or suffering until
she reached the village of some neighbouring tribe.

We now pushed on again by forced marches, travelling by night and by
day, shooting just enough game as we required for food, and taking no
more rest than was absolutely necessary to enable us to hold on our way.
In a short time we reached the village, which, to our great joy, we
found in much the same state as it was when we left it.

King Jambai received us with great delight, and his people went into a
state of immense rejoicing--firing guns, and shouting, and beating
kettles and drums, in honour of the arrival of the "white faces;" which
name was certainly a misnomer, seeing that our faces had by that time
become the very reverse of white--indeed they were little lighter than
the countenances of the good people by whom we were surrounded.

But the king's consternation was very great when we told him the reason
of our unexpected visit, and related to him the details of the terrible
calamity that had befallen poor Mbango and his people. He appeared
sincerely grateful for the effort we had made to warn him of the
impending attack, and seemed unable to express his