n we let down the carcase, and at once flayed it.
Our object in doing so was to present the skin to the chief of the
village we expected to visit, as we guessed it would be highly prized;
besides which, the fact that we had killed the creature being known,
would raise us in the estimation of the people. Having hung up the skin
to dry, Harry and I went down to the lake, hoping to see the canoe of
our friend, but we were again disappointed. Charley had, in the
meantime, been preparing breakfast, roasting some more ducks, and the
remainder of the ground-nuts left us by Shimbo. After this, we employed
our time in scraping the inside of the leopard's skin, which gave us
enough to do; we then made a sort of lye from the ashes of our fire,
which would have, we hoped, some effect in preserving the skin, though
we were aware that the process we adopted was very rude and imperfect.
As several hours had passed since Tubbs and the two blacks had left us,
we became somewhat anxious about them. If the natives had proved
treacherous, Tom would very likely be put to death or kept a prisoner,
and we should see nothing more of him. About noon, Harry and I had gone
down to the lake to get a saucepan of water, when we remarked a tiny
speck on the broad shining expanse of the lake, where nothing previously
had been visible.

"Hurrah! that must be the canoe at last," he exclaimed.

I was of the same opinion. "If Charley were to have a look at it, he
would be more certain about the matter," I observed; and running back, I
called my brother.

"Yes, there's no doubt about it; that must be the canoe," he said, after
he had watched it attentively.

We now hoped that we should at length get away from the spot where we
had spent so much time. After watching for several minutes, though it
was still at a great distance, and appeared to be approaching very
slowly, we could distinctly make out the canoe. We had gone back to eat
our dinners, as we had become hungry, when Harry said that he would go
down to the lake to see if the canoe was near the shore. Just as he
reached the water, we heard him cry out, "Here they are! here they are!"
Charley and I ran down to join him. The next minute Aboh and Shimbo,
with two other blacks, stepped out of a good-sized canoe, capable of
carrying us three in addition. It was formed very much like the one we
had intended to make out of the trunk of a tree. Aboh seemed as
delighted to see us as if he had