have conducted towards the counterfeit lion--which beast was
all the while making the most violent demonstrations, and uttering loud
noises, that in deepness of baritone almost equalled the roar of the
forest-monarch himself!

What became of the baboons we could not tell--they seemed to vanish into
the earth, or the air: at all events in less than two minutes, from the
time the lion made his appearance outside the baobab, not one of them
was to be seen; and the tawny quadruped, all at once ceasing to roar
like a lion, could be heard emitting from his fierce jaws loud yells of
human laughter!

We stayed not much longer under the shadow of the baobab. It was
dangerous ground. The mandrills might discover the cheat and come back;
so, with this apprehension in our thoughts, we took a hasty leave of our
aged friends the mummies, and hurried rapidly down the hill. We halted
only to drink, and then pushed onward.

It was near noon of the third day, from the time of our starting on our
expedition, before we astonished by our reappearance the crew of the
_Pandora_.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

The _Pandora_ was now rapidly made ready for her voyage across the
Atlantic. The carpenter had finished his bulkheads and hatch-gratings,
and the men were daily engaged in emptying the salt-water out of the
casks and refilling them with fresh--a somewhat slow and troublesome
job.

While these preparations were going on, a messenger arrived at the
factory of King Dingo Bingo, who brought with him a report that put his
majesty into the most terrible state of uneasiness and alarm, and also
produced a very similar effect upon the skipper of the _Pandora_.

The messenger, or messengers--for there were three of them--were
negroes, of course. They were of the kind known as Kroomen; that is, a
class of negroes found along most parts of the western coast of Africa,
who are greatly addicted to the sea, and make excellent sailors when so
employed. They are, in fact, the "boatmen" of the African coast, or
"watermen," if you prefer it, but not unfrequently they ship for a long
voyage; and many vessels in the African trade are accustomed, when short
of hands, to make up their crew from among these Kroomen.

Three of these Kroomen, then, had suddenly made their appearance in the
river, with a report that spread consternation among the people of King
Dingo Bingo and those of the _Pandora_.

What was this report?

It was that a British cru