n you, Mr. Mole,"
said Jack, stiffly. "I don't want you to furnish information to any
body about my movements."

"Very good," replied Mr. Mole, "I won't, then. I thought I might send a
second letter, to say that I was quite sure you did not care a fig for
the lovely Circassian."

Jack thought that this might be a desirable move, and so he tried to
square matters a bit.

"Do so, and I will be your friend," he said.

"Consider it done," exclaimed Mole. "I like you as I did, and do, your
father, but I must have my joke."

* * * *

The perilous adventures which our friends had encountered on their
expedition did not deter them from further enterprises.

Only two days after the events just recorded, Jack's party set out on a
picnic excursion, to examine the beauties of the surrounding
neighbourhood.

It was not towards the desert that they directed their steps this time,
but in the opposite direction.

Mr. Figgins, upon this journey, showed his usual talent for getting
into scrapes.

On passing under a group of fine fig-trees, nothing would suit him but
he must stand upon his mule's saddle in order to reach some of the
fruit.

As he was still not high enough to do this, he made a spring up and
caught one of the lower branches, to which he clung.

Suddenly the mule, we know not from what cause, bolted from underneath,
leaving the luckless orphan suspended.

Mr. Figgins soon relinquished the search in his anxiety for his own
safety.

He saw beneath him a descent of some ten feet, and at the bottom a
dense bed of stinging nettles.

How was he to get down?

Dropping was out of the question, for it would be like a leap into
certain torture.

However, Harkaway called out to him to hold on, but not so loudly as
Figgins bawled all the while for help.

Meanwhile, Bogey and Tinker had started after the escaped mule, which
they found some difficulty in capturing.

When it was at length secured, the animal was placed in his former
position under the tree, and firmly held by the two negroes.

"Now let yourself down, Figgins," cried Jack; "drop straight and
steady."

Figgins tried his best to obey.

When he let go the branch, it rebounded with a force that threw him out
of the perpendicular, and instead of landing upon the mule's back, he
fell and landed on the bed of stinging nettles.

The orphan roared lustily--as indeed well he might--for, besides being
shak