until night falls, so we must make the best of a hot afternoon."

But he was mistaken. A greater danger than any yet experienced now
threatened them, though Iris, after perusing that wonderful psalm,
might have warned him of it had she known the purpose of those long
bamboos carried by some of the savages.

For Taung S'Ali, furious and unrelenting, resolved that if he could not
obtain the girl he would slay the pair of them; and he had terrible
weapons in his possession--weapons that could send "silent death even
to the place where they stood."




CHAPTER XIII

REALITY _V_. ROMANCE--THE CASE FOR THE DEFENDANT


Residents in tropical countries know that the heat is greatest, or
certainly least bearable, between two and four o'clock in the
afternoon.

At the conclusion of a not very luscious repast, Jenks suggested that
they should rig up the tarpaulin in such wise as to gain protection
from the sun and yet enable him to cast a watchful eye over the valley.
Iris helped to raise the great canvas sheet on the supports he had
prepared. Once shut off from the devouring sun rays, the hot breeze
then springing into fitful existence cooled their blistered but