ighed the matter with what coolness I could bring to
bear, it did not seem particularly wicked. With the pistol in my hand
and with the safety released, I believed that the rest would have been
easy and even pleasant. What did I have in my favour? What prospect
did I have of escaping the jungle? None whatever--none!

There was no shadow of hope for me, and I had long ago given up
believing in miracles. For eight days I had scarcely had a mouthful to
eat, excepting the broiled monkey at _tambo_ No. 7, shot by the young
Indian. The fever had me completely in its grasp. I was left alone
more than one hundred miles from human beings in absolute wilderness. I
measured cynically the tenaciousness of life, measured the thread that
yet held me among the number of the living, and I realised now what the
fight between life and death meant to a man brought to bay. I had not
the slightest doubt in my mind that this was the last of me. Surely,
no man could have been brought lower or to greater extremity and live;
no man ever faced a more hopeless proposition. Yet I could or would
not yield, but put the pistol back where it belonged.

All night long I crawled on and on and ever on, through the underbrush,
with no sense of direction whatever, and still I am sure that I did
not crawl in a circle but that I covered a considerable distance. For
hours I moved along at the absolute mercy of any beast of the forest
that might meet me.

The damp chill of the approaching morning usual in these regions came
to me with a cooling touch and restored once more to some extent my
sanity. My clothes were almost stripped from my body, and smeared with
mud, my hands and face were torn and my knees were a mass of bruises.

CHAPTER IX

AMONG THE CANNIBAL MANGEROMAS

I have a vague recollection of hearing the barking of dogs, of
changing my crawling direction to head for the sound, and then,
suddenly, seeing in front of me a sight which had the same effect as
a rescuing steamer on the shipwrecked.

To my confused vision it seemed that I saw many men and women and
children, and a large, round house; I saw parrots fly across the
open space in brilliant, flashing plumage and heard their shrill
screaming. I cried aloud and fell forward when a little curly-haired
dog jumped up and commenced licking my face, and then I knew no more.

When I came to I was lying in a comfortable hammock in a large, dark
room. I heard the murmur of many voices and p