o the back of
the tree against which the faithless man leaned, and reached gently
round until his mouth was close to Antonio's cheek, then, collecting all
the air that his vast lungs were capable of containing, he poured into
Antonio's ear a cumulative roar that threw the camp and the denizens of
the wilderness far and near into confusion, and almost drove the whole
marrow in Antonio's body out at his heels. The stricken man sprang up
as if earth had shot him forth, uttered a yell of terror such as seldom
greets the ear, and rushed blindly forward. Repeating the roar, Disco
plunged after him. Antonio tumbled over the fire, recovered himself,
dashed on, and would certainly have plunged into the river, if not into
the jaws of a crocodile, had not Jumbo caught him in his arms, in the
midst of a chorus of laughter from the other men.

"How dare 'ee go to sleep on dooty?" demanded Disco, seizing the culprit
by the collar, "eh! we might have bin all murdered by rebels or eaten by
lions, or had our eyes picked out by gorillas, for all that _you_ would
have done to prevent it--eh?" giving him a shake.

"Oh, pardon, forgif. Nevair doot more again," exclaimed the breathless
and trembling Antonio.

"You'd _better_ not!" said Disco, giving him another shake and releasing
him.

Having done so, he turned on his heel and bestowed a quiet look, in
passing, on Jumbo, which of course threw that unfortunate man into
convulsions.

After this little incident a hasty breakfast was taken, the canoes were
launched, and the voyage was continued.

It is not necessary to trace the course of our explorers day by day as
they ascended the Zambesi, or to recount all the adventures or
misadventures that befell them on their journey into the interior. It
is sufficient for the continuity of our tale to say that many days after
leaving the coast they turned into the Shire river, which flows into the
Zambesi about 150 miles from the coast.

There are many fountain-heads of slavery in Africa. The region of the
interior, which gives birth to the head-waters of the Shire river, is
one of the chief of these. Here lies the great lake Nyassa, which was
discovered and partly explored by Dr Livingstone, and hence flows a
perennial stream of traffic to Kilwa, on the coast--which traffic, at
the present time, consists almost exclusively of the two kinds of ivory,
white and black, the former (elephants' tusks) being carried by the
latter (slaves), by