lay down to plan out his march. Suddenly he
remembered the parting words of Simba and Moto, and wondered to himself
how he had not thought of them before, as they would have enabled him to
bear up with a little more patience and fortitude the trials he had
undergone. But they came not too late; he felt that with such friends
as those he was not alone in the world, and he resolved on leaving the
camp to strike south, then wait a day in the woods, and afterwards
strike off through the forest until he came near to a village in Ututa,
and then lie in wait for some one who would direct him to Katalambula.
A cruel thought came across his mind once, to stab Tifum with his own
spear, but he instantly rejected it as unworthy of an Arab and the son
of Amer bin Osman.

The hours passed by, but not wearily, as Selim's thoughts had been busy.
All slept soundly, and the fires also seemed to have fallen into
drowsiness, for nothing but dull red embers marked the places where the
fires stood.

He muttered a short prayer to God for courage and strength, and the
lashings of the cruel yoke fell apart, and he drew his head through,
free. Free! not yet.

He stood up silently, walked straight to a tree deliberately but
noiselessly, chose a couple of spears, a gun, a powder horn, and a
cartouche box, and began to withdraw as stealthily as he had advanced.

It seemed an age to him, the time before he began to congratulate
himself that he was safe; for so precious were the articles in his
possession, and so rich seemed the prospect of freedom.

A few long strides brought him from tree to tree, and the more he
counted of these trees the more certain was he of safety. Tree after
tree was passed, their tall thick columns--taller and thicker by night--
formed a denser rampart between him and his enemies, an impenetrable
protection against pursuit.

Finally, he was free! Free he felt, freely he walked, freely he
thought, and the new idea, as it settled in his mind, seemed to fill him
to strangling, it had such power of expansion; the lungs were more
inflated, the stride became firmer, the head assumed a prouder air, and
the back of him straightened rigid!

He was impelled forward, fatigue seemed to fly from him, an eager
urgency of movement seemed to have come upon him; he was walking against
time for freedom!

An endless number of dark solemn trees were passed, countless numbers of
acres in front, behind, and around him, of this tre