verandah of Thresher's house. Tom rushed in, and closed with the powerful negro. Himana clutched his shirt, tore it from his back, displaying shoulders like a mass of white billiard-balls, so perfectly was each muscle developed. There was a minute's anxiety as the two bodies-the one so black and the other so white-swayed to and fro, then Tom slipped in underneath, and, getting the weight of Himana on his shoulders, he made one huge effort and threw the African chief over his head.

Before he had time to recover, Tom seized him by the throat, and, kneeling on his chest, held him to the ground.

It was a sight that made every onlooking white man ashamed of the emasculate life he was leading, and raised Tom to the status of a demi-god in their eyes.

In a moment he was surrounded, and Himana was bound and carried away prisoner.

Nellie Thresher had witnessed the whole proceeding from the balcony, and, inspired with the admiration most women feel for doughty deeds, she ran down and was one of the first to congratulate Tom.

"Mr. Marston," she cried, "I would give ten years of my life to be able to call you my brother, and to know that we came from the same stock."

Oh, thanks! It was only a piece of luck," replied Tom, looking and feeling desperately shy. "I suppose there is nothing more to be done now," he added, and, running off, he returned to where he had discarded his coat and shoes, and replaced them.

Nellie Thresher was annoyed; she did not often give way to fits of impulse, and to have her advances checked was, for her, a new sensation.

"He is a regular cub," she ejaculated; and seeing Danvers being assisted into the house, she went to him, and poured out her sorrow and sympathy.

Not a word did Tom say of his early morning round, and discovery of the bad look-out that was

being kept; but it all leaked out before long, and it was known that to him all the credit was due for the successful repulse of the natives, the capture of Himana, to say nothing of the safety of the colony.

Although Danvers' wound was a serious one, he declined to lay up. There fortunately happened to be a doctor amongst the residents who attended him, and treated him skilfully and successfully; and, though Danvers was compelled to remain very quiet, he conducted all the negociations, and retained the chief command.

The Lady of the Lake was sent back to Sierra Leone with Himana and the soldiers. Dayrell, Marston, and the blue-jackets were still kept at Baroon until quiet was restored.

Danvers tried to deceive himself that his refusal to invalid was because his wound was not sufficiently serious. Such, however, was not his real reason. He knew that if he were on the sick list the command would devolve on Lieutenant Miller, who would probably send him back to Sierra Leone immediately, and Danvers could not give up the pleasure of Nellie Thresher's society, nor the delight of being nursed by her.

No sooner had the rebels lost their head than the revolution collapsed. Bamali was crowned, and the country settled down to its usual quiet.

CHAPTER XXV.

SNATCHED FROM THE JAWS OF DEATH

DAYS lengthened into weeks, and still Danvers lingered at Baroon. The Lady of the Lake had returned, and was anchored in the stream off the settlement. Each

day Danvers determined that the next should see his departure; but the temptation to remain was too great, and he could not give the order to go.

The wound in his arm was nearly well; but the wound in his heart was a festering sore which showed no signs of healing.

The worry and anxiety, the close confinement and want of exercise in an unhealthy climate, acting on a constitution by no means robust, had so weakened Danvers that he was seriously unwell; but, with a plucky determination not to give in-which was very much wasted on the cause-he tried to conceal how much he was suffering.

Thresher apparently took no notice of his wife's goings on, and occasionally absented himself from Baroon for two or three days at a time.

Nellie herself was very happy; she had ceased to devote herself entirely to Danvers, and gave Dayrell quite as much of her society. The latter's soft face and youthfulness were no disadvantage in her eyes. Like many women, she appreciated youth in her admirers as she was losing it herself.

Dayrell was hopelessly enamoured of her, and loved with the passionate ardour of a first affair.

Danvers knew he had been supplanted by this good-looking boy, and the knowledge of it nearly drove him mad. He was of a very jealous disposition, and Nellie seemed to possess the power of exciting the jealous passions to an extraordinary degree, for Dayrell was nearly as jealous of Danvers. The two hated one another, but still kept outwardly on apparent good terms.

Of all the white people at Baroon, Tom Marston was leading the happiest, healthiest life. Every morning, as soon as it was light, and occasionally even earlier, he used to go out with his gun. Sometimes Boehm the German accompanied him; sometimes he went alone, or with a nigger guide. Occasionally he

had taken one or two blue-jackets. The latter were not as a rule desirable acquisitions for sport, and were very dangerous companions in the bush, as they were given to firing at small birds with ball cartridge out of an Enfield rifle, quite regardless of the ultimate destination of the bullet.

It was a laughable sight to see one of these big hairy men stalking a water wagtail along the shore, carefully adjusting his sights for three or four hundred yards, taking a steady aim, and missing the bird by many yards, which, being startled by the sound of the bullet, would fly on for a few hundred yards further, while the companion would remark: "You 'it 'im, Bill."

"I know

feathers fly."

well I did. I see'd all the stern

Then the chum would have a shot-after a serious consultation as to the distance-with precisely the same result; but the companion was always ready with encouragement and sympathy.

Why, you knocked his

see the beggar jump?" and so on.

leg off. Did you

When the wagtail grew tired of the sport and flew across the river, their delight would be intensified, as they considered victory rested with them in having driven the bird away.

Tom had been very lucky in sport. He had shot hippotami, alligators, and numbers of deer, besides partridges, guinea-fowl, and quail. Many of the white merchants warned him of the foolhardiness of exposing himself to the effects of the sun, and the unwholesome atmosphere in the swamps he most frequented; but Tom laughed at such advice. There was not a man on the river in as good a state of health as the little German, who was a keen sportsman, and very often accompanied him in his expeditions. To see Tom's ruddy, sunburnt face, his high spirits, good appetite, active, springy step, and compare them to

the sallow complexion, sad expression, and listless manner of Danvers and Dayrell, there could not be much doubt who was leading the healthier life.

Women are strange creatures. The mere fact that Tom Marston was utterly indifferent to her charms. made Nellie Thresher more anxious to captivate him than any one she had ever met.

There are two incitements, equally strong, which make women do all in their power to lay themselves out to subjugate men and make them their slaves. In one case it is when they are told that a man with whom they are not personally acquainted admires them more than any one else; and the other is when a man will not pay them any attention, and even avoids them, though they know that their attractions entitle them to expect it.

Danvers and Dayrell had proved themselves easy victims, and Nellie Thresher pined, like Alexander, for something fresh to conquer.

Tom had been away for two days on a shooting expedition, and returned to Baroon one morning at about seven o'clock. He immediately went to an outbuilding, wherein was a large bath, emerging shortly afterwards like a young giant refreshed.

As he passed along the verandah towards his own room he was met by Nellie Thresher, who had also just finished her bath, and was attired in a light cotton wrap; her yellow hair was twisted in a becoming knot on the top of her head, and her little naked feet were thrust into red morocco slippers. She held a finger to her lips, and with her other hand she caught hold of Tom's arm, and, leading him past his own room, she took him into hers.

66

"Excuse my bringing you here," she said with a faint attempt at a blush, and looking unusually modest, but I have some dreadful news to tell you. Poor Captain Danvers and Lord Rupert are both seriously ill; Lord Rupert has been delirious during the night, and only went to sleep about two hours ago.