At the same time Danvers added in an undertone, looking significantly at Thresher, " And I mean it.' Thresher drew his sword, and the two commenced to fight.

Their fencing had, on previous occasions, been much applauded; but to-night something kept the spectators silent. There was a grim earnestness in the way they went to work which was unpleasant to watch, but which riveted their attention.

The fencing continued for some seconds; then there was a quick passage of arms, and Danvers fell back on the stage.

This was all according to the play. His fall roused his wife to consciousness, and she rushed forward and clasped his dying form in her arms. Then, to the consternation of the spectators, they observed the white bodice of her dress stained crimson, and blood could be seen issuing from a wound in Danvers' neck.

Mrs. Maynard continued acting her part, exactly as she had done it on former occasions. She protested her undying love for him, and how she would rather join him in death than share life with any one else. She encircled him with her arms and pressed his head against her bosom, while Thresher looked on as pale as death, and motionless.

Suddenly a noise was heard behind the scenes, and Mrs. Maynard's real husband rushed on the stage, struggling with a couple of scene-shifters, who were trying to restrain him.

He stared round in a bewildered state for a few seconds, then the figure of his wife, holding Danvers in her arms, attracted his notice, and he seemed to recollect what he had come about.

In a moment he was in a fit of maniacal rage, for he was suffering from delirium tremens. He rushed forward, and, picking up Danvers' sword, from whom it had fallen on the stage, made a rapid thrust at his wife, but only succeeded in scratching her. Thresher sprang forward to seize him, but, before he could do

so, George Maynard turned the point to his own heart, and, in another minute, his soul was being tried before the judgment seat of God.

Needless to say, this was the last tragedy acted in public in Sierra Leone for some time to come.

Danvers had been badly wounded in the neck, and it was by wonderful chance that the wound was not a fatal one, for a deviation of half-an-inch would have made it so.

Mrs. Maynard lived in absolute retirement for a few months, declining to see any one. People pitied, rather than blamed her; for the men far outnumber the women in the colony.

Early one morning she left Sierra Leone in a small steamer, whose destination was unknown, and it afterwards transpired that Thresher had also left in the same steamer, after selling everything he possessed in Sierra Leone.

For some time nothing was heard of her, and then Danvers heard that she was married to Thresher, and that they were living together at a small native town. called Baroon, up the Halychula River, some sixty miles to the northward of Sierra Leone.

Danvers recovered from his wound, and was also cured of the sickly sentimental love which had sent him to Africa; but in its place smouldered the embers of a strong passionate desire to see Helen Maynard again, which required very little fomenting to break forth into flames.

CHAPTER XXIII.

UP THE HALYCHULA RIVER

FOR three weeks Dayrell and Marston lived at Government House, their life being one round of continued enjoyment. Their cheerful voices and merry laughter resounding through the house had an enlivening effect on both the Governor and Danvers, who looked forward with dread to the day they would lose them.

Tom had plenty of opportunities for trying his new gun; and, being a keen sportsman, he generally spent a portion of each day in the pursuit of such game as was to be found in the neighbourhood: a few redlegged partridges, guinea-fowl, doves, and parroquets were the extent of his bag; but he enjoyed the amusement, and the exercise was beneficial. Dayrell had come out with him on one or two occasions; but he was too lazy to continue for long, and he generally happened to miss his way in the bush, and was eventually to be found at Mrs. Lyon's flirting with the lovely Marie.

During all this time no man-of-war came into Sierra Leone, though one was expected daily. The two midshipmen knew that her advent would be the end of their holidays; and each morning their first business was to have a good look round and see that none was in sight.

One evening, after dinner, they were all sitting smoking in the verandah leading off the dining-room, when a servant announced that a man had arrived, who wished to see the Governor immediately on a matter of considerable importance.

Danvers went out to inquire what the individual wanted, returning in a short time with the master of a merchant ship, whose vessel had gone ashore in the

Halychula River, and had been boarded by the natives, who drove the crew overboard and gutted the ship.

The master said that for some weeks past there had been trouble brewing. The old king of the principal tribe there had lately died, and was succeeded by a younger brother, called Bamali; but his nephew, Himana, the son of an elder brother, claimed the throne, and declared he would take it by force if it were not ceded to him.

According to the laws of the land, Bamali was the rightful heir, and his election was supported by all the white traders on the river, as he was a civil, honest old fellow, and very anxious to open up trade; whereas, Himana was a drunken, dissolute, quarrelsome individual, who would like to sweep the country clear of every European, and restore the ancient customs of human sacrifice, witchcraft, etc., which were kept down by the white men's influence. As is usual in such cases, all the young, and, presumably, the fighting men, were on the side of Himana; and a rising was daily expected.

The merchants had fortified their stores, or factories as they were generally called, which were constructed with a view to withstand an attack, and were waiting for the worst.

An outbreak seeming imminent, the master of the merchant ship was given a letter to Sir Joseph Mitford, describing the state of affairs, and begging that a gun-boat might be sent up the river without delay.

The ship sailed with a fair wind down the river in charge of a native pilot, for the navigation was very intricate. Just as she arrived at the mouth she took the ground, and in a few minutes was surrounded by canoes filled with natives, who at once boarded and proceeded to remove every moveable thing.

The master lowered a boat, into which he and five of the crew managed to escape. The remainder of the crew secured another boat, but what became of them afterwards he did not know, as it soon came on dark.

The master had retained the letter sent by some of the white merchants, and said he felt certain that, unless succour was sent soon, the whole of the white population would be massacred.

The Governor opened the letter, which contained the information already given as to the succession to the throne, and ended up with an earnest appeal for an armed force to be sent up without delay. When he had finished it, he handed it to Danvers.

The latter gave a start as he saw the place whence it was written, and his face grew paler as he perused the contents. The news moved him greatly, for the letter was written from Baroon, and among the other signatures was that of Duncan Thresher.

Danvers looked hard at the Governor, wondering whether he had ever heard the rumour of Mrs. Maynard having settled at Baroon with Thresher, and decided he had not, or if he had, had forgotten it.

Sir Joseph Mitford Mitford was a first-rate Colonial Governor; but he was not one of those heaven-born diplomatists who know of everything in this world. some days before it occurs.

The Maynard affair was to him a very unpleasant recollection; he felt he was not altogether blameless in the matter, and it afforded him too real a sense of relief when he heard such a syren had quitted his dominions for him to trouble himself much as to what favoured spot she had migrated.

"The Lady of the Lake is lying in the harbour," Danvers said at last.

The Lady of the Lake was a small steamer built for river trading, which had been bought by the Colonial Government to carry troops, and had been armed with a forty-pounder Armstrong gun, and two howitzers. At first she had had a regular crew of white men; but partly from mismanagement, partly owing to the idle life they led, they had fallen victims to the climate, or else had misconducted themselves to