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somewhere, and we should have little to fear from them, though we might meet

with a few.

My first concern was to take my weapons apart and dry them, which was rather

difficult in the face of the fact that every rag about me was drenched. But finally,

thanks to the sun and much rubbing, I succeeded, though I had no oil to

lubricate them.

We ate some wild berries and roots that Victory found, and then we set off again

down the river, keeping an eye open for game on one side and the launch on the

other, for I thought that Delcarte, who would be the natural leader during my

absence, might run up the Thames in search of me.

The balance of that day we sought in vain for game or for the launch, and when

night came we lay down, our stomachs empty, to sleep beneath the stars. We

were entirely unprotected from attack from wild beasts, and for this reason I

remained awake most of the night, on guard. But nothing approached us,

though I could hear the lions roaring across the river, and once I thought I heard

the howl of a beast north of us--it might have been a wolf.

Altogether, it was a most unpleasant night, and I determined then that if we were

forced to sleep out again that I should provide some sort of shelter which would

protect us from attack while we slept.

Toward morning I dozed, and the sun was well up when Victory aroused me by

gently shaking my shoulder.

"Antelope!" she whispered in my ear, and, as I raised my head, she pointed up-

river. Crawling to my knees, I looked in the direction she indicated, to see a buck

standing upon a little knoll some two hundred yards from us. There was good

cover between the animal and me, and so, though I might have hit him at two

hundred yards, I preferred to crawl closer to him and make sure of the meat we

both so craved.

I had covered about fifty yards of the distance, and the beast was still feeding

peacefully, so I thought that I would make even surer of a hit by going ahead

another fifty yards, when the animal suddenly raised his head and looked away,

up-river. His whole attitude proclaimed that he was startled by something

beyond him that I could not see.

Realizing that he might break and run and that I should then probably miss him

entirely, I raised my rifle to my shoulder. But even as I did so the animal leaped

into the air, and simultaneously there was a sound of a shot from beyond the

knoll.

The Lost Continent