e flesh and the best of everything, and even drinking, at my
special request, several doses of a tonic which I had brought with me,
in case of sickness. The faces he made over it were something too weird
to describe.

Under this treatment Umkopo soon picked up strength, and we became great
friends, he and I. I endeavoured to teach him a few English words, and
one day--to my great astonishment and interest--he rattled off a
sentence which I had not taught him, but which was certainly a species
of English. It sounded like this: 'Whenima gooboy nannagiv mejam on
Sundays.'

It was an obvious attempt to say, 'When I'm a good boy, Nanna gives me
jam on Sundays'--a sentence which not only told a tale of its own, but
also gave a fellow a pretty wide field 'to think in.'

After this discovery, I began to take a very great and special interest
in Umkopo, and taught him all the English I could. He was with me for a
fortnight, and grew much attached to me. He was, of course, a bit of a
savage, but there was something very attractive about him, and I grew
both fond of and interested in him. This interest and fondness for a
nigger greatly offended Billy, my chief Kaffir. None of my Kaffirs liked
Umkopo, for all were jealous of him, I suppose; but Billy was
particularly bitter against him, and once or twice I was obliged to
reprimand him severely.

This uncomfortable state of affairs ended in a kind of tragedy, and I
will just tell you of this and of its upshot before passing on to the
rhinoceros adventure, which is the real part of this yarn.

(_Concluded on page 154._)

THE SHEPHERD MOON.

I love to wait till the red sun hides,
When from the dusk the Shepherd Moon glides;
And by twos and threes around him peep
His flock of little white starry sheep.

All night they ramble so far and high,
Their pasture wide is the dark blue sky;
Then the Shepherd Moon goes on his way,
And leads them back to the folds of Day.

PEEPS INTO NATURE'S NURSERIES.

V.--THE LIFE-HISTORY OF THE FRESH-WATER MUSSEL.

Most readers of _Chatterbox_ must have seen the fresh-water mussel in
its native element. Let those who have not, search in the shallow water
of the nearest river or brook till they are successful. When the stream
is clear you may often see them lying on the bottom; in deeper water,
you may catch them if you go out armed with a big, long-handled rake;
plunge this into the water, drag it along the bott