After he and I had breakfasted, I felt very weary and sleepy; and so,
feeling certain that he would keep a more vigilant watch over me than I
could myself when awake, I lay down with perfect confidence on the
ground, in the shade of a bo-tree, and slept as soundly as I ever did in
my life. No dream disturbed me--not a thought passed through my mind.
The last thing I saw, before I closed my eyes, was Solon sitting up with
his head stretched over me, his ears outspread, his eyes looking sharply
round, and his nose pointed out, ready to catch the slightest scent of a
dangerous creature. What a perfect picture, I have since thought, did
he present of true fidelity!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

WONDERFUL STATUE--DAGOBOS--TEMPLES AND OTHER RUINS--CONSIDER HOW TO FIND
MY WAY BACK TO THE CAMP--MEET A HERMIT--ATTACKED BY A BUFFALO--KILL IT
WITH ONE SHOT--THE UNEXPECTED MEETING WITH AN OLD ENGLISH GENTLEMAN--
ACCOMPANY HIM TO HIS CAMP--WHO HE PROVES TO BE--MEET LUMSDEN, MY
SCHOOLFELLOW--INQUIRIES ABOUT ALFRED--ANXIETY AS TO NOWELL'S FATE--WE
SET OUT IN SEARCH OF HIM AND DANGO--COLONY OF PAROQUETS--THE ANTHELIA--
FIND DANGO--THE FATE OF AN ELEPHANT-HUNTER.

I slept for an hour or more under the bo-tree, held sacred by the
worshippers of Buddah, in front of those strange, fantastic, and
gigantic remains of a bygone age and people. When I awoke, there was
Solon sitting exactly in the attitude in which I had seen him when I
went to sleep. The moment I opened my eyes, he began to lick my face
and hands, and to show every sign of satisfaction.

"It is your turn to sleep now, old Solon," said I, patting him on the
head, and pressing him down on the ground.

He seemed to understand me, and giving a couple of turns round, he
coiled himself up, and in a moment was fast asleep. I do not think that
he had been asleep ten minutes before he jumped up, wagged his tail, and
ran forward, as much as to say--

"I am all ready now, master, to begin our journey; and it is high time,
I am sure, to be off."

I thought so likewise, but in what direction to go I could not tell, nor
did Solon seem to know much more about it.

Anxious, however, as I was to rejoin Nowell, I scarcely liked to leave
the extraordinary place in which I found myself without exploring the
vast ruins by which I was surrounded. Daylight showed me that they
extended to an immense distance; the whole surface of the ground, as far
as my eye could reach, was covered with fragm