in every
conceivable danger. He thought of her as drowned in the river and
devoured by crocodiles; as carried away by the natives into hopeless
captivity; or, perhaps, killed by wild beasts in the forest. When
several hours had elapsed, and still no sign of the missing ones could
be discovered, he fell down exhausted on the river's bank, and groaned
aloud in his despair.

But Ailie was not lost. The Heavenly Father in whom she trusted still
watched over and cared for her, and Glynn Proctor's stout right arm was
still by her side to protect her.

About half-an-hour after the party had gone off in search of their lost
companion, a large canoe, full of negroes, came sweeping down the river.
Glynn and Ailie hid themselves in the bushes, and lay perfectly still,
hoping they might be passed by. But they forgot that the blue smoke of
their fire curled up through the foliage and revealed their presence at
once. On observing the smoke, the savages gave a shout, and, running
their canoe close in to the bank, leaped ashore and began to scamper
through the wood like baboons.

Only a few minutes passed before they discovered the two hiders, whom
they surrounded and gazed upon in the utmost possible amazement,
shouting the while with delight, as if they had discovered a couple of
new species of monkey. Glynn was by nature a reckless and hasty youth.
He felt the power of a young giant within him, and his first impulse was
to leap upon the newcomers, and knock them down right and left.
Fortunately, for Ailie's sake as well as his own, he had wisdom enough
to know that though he had possessed the power of ten giants, he could
not hope, singly, to overcome twenty negroes, all of whom were strong,
active, and lithe as panthers. He therefore assumed a good-humoured
free-and-easy air, and allowed himself and Ailie to be looked at and
handled without ceremony.

The savages were evidently not ill-disposed towards the wanderers. They
laughed a great deal, and spoke to each other rapidly in what, to Glynn,
was of course an unknown tongue. One who appeared to be the chief of
the party passed his long black fingers through Ailie's glossy curls
with evident surprise and delight. He then advanced to Glynn, and said
something like--

"Holli--boobo--gaddle--bump--um--peepi--daddle--dumps."

To which Glynn replied very naturally, "I don't understand you."

Of course he did not. And he might have known well enough that the
negro cou