e would
probably be his. It might be hoped that Leboeuf's tortures had been
short.

He did not dare push deeper into the wood; his single chance lay in
creeping round the village after dark, and possibly rejoining his
servants, if they still lived. If not, he might recover the road at least.
But man could not be in more desperate straits.

Remaining thus in the vicinity, towards dusk he heard a whistle far off.
The frenzy of his relief is not to be described--it was the rallying
signal of the party. But suppose the enemy used this device to ensnare
him? It might be! And yet--there was the hope. At worst they would give
him a speedy death. He answered. Gradually the searchers drew near. They
were his own men, led by the interpreter.

Wilson could not speak French, but he grasped that the natives would not
harm him. Leboeuf?--It was almost a comfort that he could not understand
precisely. The interpreter's pantomime suggested an awful fate. Leboeuf
stood at bay with his gun, and the chiefs held him in parley while men
crept through the brushwood. They threw a lasso from behind, and dragged
him down. He was borne to the square, and after dread ceremonies which
Wilson shuddered to comprehend, laid upon the altar.

In a maze of horror and anxiety he entered the village. It was not yet
dark. But of all the multitude swarming there some hours before not a soul
was visible. They had not left; every house resounded with the hum of many
voices--low, and, as it seemed to Wilson, praying. The square also was
deserted; upon the high stone altar he saw a shapeless mass from which
small wreaths of smoke still curled.

That was the fate of poor Leboeuf. The same night Wilson was seized by
fever. He struggled on, but died within a few hours' march of Tamatave.

LAELIA PURPURATA

The next house is given up to L. purpurata with some L. grandis tenebrosa
intermixed. Not much can be said of the latter species. Its extraordinary
colour is best described as madder-brown, but here we have a variety of
which the ends of the sepal and petal are yellowish. The broad lip, dull
purple, has a madder-brown cloud at its throat, whence lines of the same
hue proceed to the edges all round. The value of L. tenebrosa for
hybridising needs no demonstration--it introduces a colour unique, of
which not a trace can be found elsewhere. But as for the flower itself, I
protest that it is downright ugly. This is _a propos_ of nothing at all.
_Libe