their leader's footsteps.

That afternoon, late, they camped by the same pool near which Berselius
had shot the rhinos.

Adams, to make sure, walked away to where the great bull had fought the
cow before being laid low by the rifle of the hunter.

The bones were there, picked clean and bleached, exemplifying the eternal
hunger of the desert, which is one of the most horrible facts in life.
These two great brutes had been left nearly whole a few days ago; tons of
flesh had vanished like snow in sunshine, mist in morning.

But Adams, as he gazed at the colossal bones, was not thinking of that;
the marvel of their return filled his mind as he looked from the skeletons
to where, against the evening blue, a thin wreath of smoke rose up from
the camp fire which the porters had lighted.

Far away south, so far away as to be scarcely discernible, a bird was
sailing along, sliding on the wind without a motion of the wings. It
passed from sight and left the sky stainless, and the land lay around
silent with the tremendous silence of evening, and lifeless as the bones
bleaching at his feet.

CHAPTER XXVII

I AM THE FOREST

The day after the next, two hours before noon, they passed an object which
Adams remembered well.

It was the big tree which Berselius had pointed out to him as having been
tusked by an elephant; and an hour after they had started from the mid-day
rest, the horizon to the north changed and grew dark.

It was the forest.

The sky immediately above the dark line, from contrast, was
extraordinarily bright and pale, and, as they marched, the line lifted and
the trees grew.

"Look!" said Berselius.

"I see," replied Adams.

A question was troubling his mind. Would Berselius be able to guide them
amidst the trees? Here in the open he had a hundred tiny indications on
either side of him, but amidst the trees how could he find his way? Was it
possible that memory could lead him through that labyrinth once it grew
dense?

It will be remembered that it was a two days' march from Fort M'Bassa
through the isthmus of woods to the elephant country. At the edge of the
forest the trees were very thinly set, but for the rest, and a day's march
from the fort, it was jungle.

Would Berselius be able to penetrate that jungle? Time would tell.
Berselius knew nothing about it; he only knew what lay before his sight.

Toward evening the trees came out to meet them, baobab and monkey-bread,
set widely apa