brother murderers, who probably were calmly waiting on the outside for
the signal.

Nothing of all this, we repeat, entered the head of Jack until he had
made the change in the course he was following and had passed down the
slope to the river bank. His effort to mislead his enemies necessarily
took him some distance above the point where he had left the boat, and
he now set out to find his way to it. It was while he was engaged in
doing so that he became aware that he was followed.

"Well, I'll be hanged!" he muttered, coming to an abrupt stop; "it
seems to me that these infernal imps are everywhere."

He had not seen any one, but a rustling, grating noise in the shadow of
the nearest tree told him where the immediate danger lay. Believing
that an unexpected course was best he wheeled and ran at full speed
toward the tree, which contained a large number of dense,
wide-spreading branches.

The result was surprising. Instead of one native, two leaped out from
cover and ran away at full speed. They had been stealing after him, on
the watch for a chance to bring him down by a blow in the back, when
the tables were turned in this unexpected manner. Jack, therefore, had
no hesitation in firing at the one on his right, and immediately after
at his companion, whose superior speed had placed him considerably in
advance. As a consequence, he missed the latter, while the first
emitted a screech, leaped high in air and sprawled forward on his face
as dead as Julius Caesar.

The fact that his pursuers were two in number led the young man to