began a song and the others listened
in silence. Only when he had finished did they repeat together in a
chorus the last refrain of his song. After a brief pause, he resumed
and finished, and they again repeated; after this the whole flock flew
in a light wavy flight to the nearest acacia and the concert, composed
of the soloist and chorus, again resounded in the southern stillness.
The children could not listen enough to this. Nell, catching the
leading tune of the concert, joined with the chorus and warbled in her
thin little voice the notes resembling the quickly repeated sound of
"tui, tui, tui, twiling-ting! ting!"

Once the children, following the winged musicians from tree to tree,
went away over half a mile from the camp, leaving in it the three
negroes, the King, and Saba. Stas was about to start on a hunting trip
and did not want to take Saba with him, for fear that his barking might
scare away the game. When the little flock finally flew to the last
acacia on the other side of a wide ravine, the boy stopped Nell and
said:

"Now I will escort you to the King and after that I shall see whether
there are any antelopes or zebras in the high jungle, for Kali says
that the smoked meats will not last longer than two days."

"Why, I am big now," answered Nell, who was always anxious to make it
appear that she was not a little child, "so I will return alone. We can
see the camp perfectly from here, and the smoke also."

"I am afraid that you may stray."

"I won't stray. In a high jungle we might stray, but here, see how low
the grass is!"

"Still, something may happen to you."

"You yourself said that lions and panthers do not hunt in the daytime.
Besides, you hear how the King is trumpeting from longing after us.
What lion would dare to hunt there where the sound of the King reaches?"

And she began to importune:

"Stas, dear, I will go alone, like a grown-up."

Stas hesitated for a while but finally assented. The camp and smoke
really could be seen. The King, who longed for Nell, trumpeted every
little while. In the low grass there was no danger of going astray, and
as to lions, panthers, and hyenas, there plainly could be no talk of
them as these animals seek prey during the night. The boy after all
knew that nothing would afford the little maid greater pleasure than if
he acted as though he did not regard her as a little child.

"Very well," he said, "go alone, but go directly, and do not tarry on
th