eady
at any second to send the flint pointed arrows into the vital spot of
their enemy.

Dick watched and thought he understood why his bowmen waked so long.
The leopards were making their way toward the wild horses and not
toward the sleeping men. The warriors were waiting to get them out in
the open where they could see better to shoot. In the light of the
stars Dick could see the beasts crawling along the ground. Suddenly
the two first gave a spring, but before they could reach their prey,
Kurt and Kurul had shot their arrows, catching the beasts between the
eyes. Their bodies jumped high in the air, then dropped. The other
animals turned and disappeared.

"Oh boy, what a shot!" exclaimed Dan, jumping to his feet and running
toward the dead animals, but Kurul held him back.

"Beware, brother," said Kurul, "the leopard has a way of coming alive
after he is dead! I've seen it!"

For Dick there was no more sleep that night. It was time to relieve
Kurt and Kurul and he did not feel sure that the other men were to be
trusted to watch. Dick knew that Rex Carter was depending on him to
look after Dan and protect him from danger, and besides that the
responsibility of his army weighed on the shoulders of the Boy King of
the desert.

Dick sat up and watched toward the jungle. From time to time dark
shapes slipped by as if eager to get far away from danger. The sharp
call of night birds awakened monkeys that kept up a maddening chatter.
The night seemed full of dangers that threatened him. But Dick Oakwood
was not displeased.

"Who would have believed it!" he said to himself. "When I left America
I had no idea that my experiences would be stranger even than those of
Matt Binney, our old African trader. When I get back I'll tell him
some thrillers that will make his hair stand on end, the way he used to
make mine when I was a kid."

As usual on the march, dawn had not tinted the horizon before the
warriors were up and busy preparing breakfast and as the first streaks
of rose and purple made fantastic designs in the sky, Dick and Dan led
the way into the jungle, following the trail that Kulki had told them
would lead to the Arab camp.

In a few minutes steam rose from the horses' sides while perspiration
flowed down the faces of the riders. Dan wiped his face with the back
of his hand leaving a dusty streak across his cheek. He turned to look
at his chum to see how he was standing the strain.

The Boy