nyway, they have retreated fast enough, and
I fancy the fire from the shore is dying down. Steady, men! I think we
have done enough. Our fusillade has stopped their advance and that
fellow in the boat is getting out of their range. Look at him!"

It was indeed a sight to behold, for if the fugitive had shown eagerness
before, he now displayed the utmost delight and excitement. He shouted
to the launch, and waved his paddle again. Then he turned, and noticing
that the slugs which were still fired at him now fell far astern, he
laughed, and standing up, shook a defiant fist. Then once more he threw
himself on his knees, and dug his paddle into the stream, sending his
light craft ahead till the water was churned into froth at her bows. A
few minutes later he came level with the launch, when he threw himself
down in the bottom of his boat, and lay there exhausted and out of
breath with the struggle.

"Pull him aboard and let him lie under the awning," said Dick. "Make
his boat fast, and then we'll push along up the river. Keep well under
cover, for we may have some trouble. That's the way, Jack. Keep in the
very centre, for it is so wide here that we need have little fear should
they fire, while we can reach either bank with our weapons."

Obedient to a nod from his master, Johnnie opened the throttle a little,
till the launch attained a good pace. Meanwhile the sailors had rapidly
transferred the fugitive from his boat to the deck of the steamer, and
had made his craft fast right aft. Only then did Dick notice that the
native was not an Ashanti, while a half-healed wound on one thigh, now
bleeding afresh after his exertions, or perhaps because of a second
injury, showed that he had little cause to thank those from whom he
fled. As for the latter, an occasional shot from the bank told that
some were still there, though their slugs were quite harmless at that
distance, and, indeed, failed to reach the launch. But even these soon
ceased to trouble, particularly when the sailors directed their rifles
at the flashes, and sent in a withering volley. Of the other boat
nothing was seen, and in all probability she had long since been hidden.

"They must have rounded the bend and then dragged her into the forest,"
said Dick. "I think we might steam on another mile, and then talk to
this fellow. He's not an Ashanti, Jack."

"And he's no friend of theirs, either," sang out Jack, from his post at
the tiller. "He