y, and the eyes to
aid it by piercing that thick darkness of the natural chamber in which
he found himself. Bit by bit, the senses resumed the old order of
things. Mind stirred up, and gave its master to know that he had run
away from a most cruel slavery. Ah! yes! and, the keyword touched, all
became clear.

"The Watuta!--that torturing yoke-tree, and the sleepless nights it
caused me! my galled shoulders, my wealed back, my racking head! that
monster Tifum! that fierce man-animal whom pity never touched! that
pariah dog-face, repulsive in its animal malignity! those thick lips
which uttered such horrible blasphemy! that always-ready whip! Who can
forget him? May the foul mother who bore him, and her fouler son,
perish like one of those whose fate will be Al Hotamah!

"All is clear to my mind now. I am free! Arise, my soul, for further
freedom; the dark night is kinder than day. The wilderness will take
more pity on me than man. Shake thyself, son of Amer, thy mother is
patiently waiting for thee; thy kinsmen at Zanzibar still look for thee.
Courage, my heart, there is nothing to fear."

He rose to his feet and looked out. "Is that a beast, or is it my timid
fancy which creates such a shape? Hush, that was a step! a slow,
stealthy step of padded feet; no man alone in the wilds would walk on
all fours. Hush, but a moment. Ah! what is it?"

For just then an unearthly laugh--terrible in its satiric wildness of
tone--rang through the forest. It was startling for a moment, because
it was unexpected, and fearful, because it seemed to challenge all the
denizens of the wilds. "What beast can it be?

"Ah! I remember now. Moto has told me of it. It is only a hyaena, and
the hungry fellow has scented a prey. Not yet, my friend, can I be
thine. Selim is safe from thy jaws. He must see Zanzibar first, before
any of thy species can eat him. Oh God!--"

The satiric laugh of the hyaena was succeeded now by a roar which echoed
through the forest, and another and another succeeded it, which almost
deafened the lad with its volume and power. No animal but the dread
king of the forest could have emitted such sounds, and there is nothing
more startling than the first sudden bellowing outburst of his lungs--it
is so deep, so protracted; but, as if he expends the concentrated power
of his lungs in the first roar, the others which succeed it come out in
short, gasping, rasping sounds, which seem to chase one anoth