The black boy whom Malbihn had left awaiting him in theclearing with instructions to remain until he returned satcrouched at the foot of a tree for an hour when he was suddenlystartled by the coughing grunt of a lion behind him. With celerityborn of the fear of death the boy clambered into the branchesof the tree, and a moment later the king of beasts entered theclearing and approached the carcass of an antelope which, untilnow, the boy had not seen.

Until daylight the beast fed, while the black clung, sleepless,to his perch, wondering what had become of his master and thetwo ponies. He had been with Malbihn for a year, and so wasfairly conversant with the character of the white. His knowledgepresently led him to believe that he had been purposely abandoned. Like the balance of Malbihn's followers, this boy hated his mastercordially--fear being the only bond that held him to the white man. His present uncomfortable predicament but added fuel to the firesof his hatred.

As the sun rose the lion withdrew into the jungle and the blackdescended from his tree and started upon his long journey backto camp. In his primitive brain revolved various fiendish plansfor a revenge that he would not have the courage to put intoeffect when the test came and he stood face to face with one ofthe dominant race.

A mile from the clearing he came upon the spoor of two poniescrossing his path at right angles. A cunning look entered theblack's eyes. He laughed uproariously and slapped his thighs.

Negroes are tireless gossipers, which, of course, is but aroundabout way of saying that they are human. Malbihn's boyshad been no exception to the rule and as many of them had beenwith him at various times during the past ten years there waslittle about his acts and life in the African wilds that was notknown directly or by hearsay to them all.

And so, knowing his master and many of his past deeds, knowing,too, a great deal about the plans of Malbihn and Baynes that hadbeen overheard by himself, or other servants; and knowing wellfrom the gossip of the head-men that half of Malbihn's party layin camp by the great river far to the west, it was not difficultfor the boy to put two and two together and arrive at four as thesum--the four being represented by a firm conviction that hismaster had deceived the other white man and taken the latter'swoman to his western camp, leaving the other to suffer captureand punishment at the hands of the Big Bwana whom all feared. Again the boy bared his rows of big, white teeth and laughed aloud. Then he resumed his northward way, traveling at a dogged trot thatate up the miles with marvelous rapidity.

In the Swede's camp the Hon. Morison had spent an almostsleepless night of nervous apprehension and doubts and fears.Toward morning he had slept, utterly exhausted. It was theheadman who awoke him shortly after sun rise to remind him thatthey must at once take up their northward journey. Baynes hung back. He wanted to wait for "Hanson" and Meriem. The headman urgedupon him the danger that lay in loitering. The fellow knew hismaster's plans sufficiently well to understand that he had donesomething to arouse the ire of the Big Bwana and that it wouldfare ill with them all if they were overtaken in Big Bwana's country. At the suggestion Baynes took alarm.

What if the Big Bwana, as the head-man called him, hadsurprised "Hanson" in his nefarious work. Would he not guessthe truth and possibly be already on the march to overtake andpunish him? Baynes had heard much of his host's summarymethod of dealing out punishment to malefactors great andsmall who transgressed the laws or customs of his savage littleworld which lay beyond the outer ramparts of what men arepleased to call frontiers. In this savage world where there wasno law the Big Bwana was law unto himself and all who dweltabout him. It was even rumored that he had extracted the deathpenalty from a white man who had maltreated a native girl.

Baynes shuddered at the recollection of this piece of gossipas he wondered what his host would exact of the man who hadattempted to steal his young, white ward. The thought broughthim to his feet.

"Yes," he said, nervously, "we must get away from here at once. Do you know the trail to the north?"

The head-man did, and he lost no time in getting the safariupon the march.

It was noon when a tired and sweat-covered runner overtookthe trudging little column. The man was greeted with shouts ofwelcome from his fellows, to whom he imparted all that he knewand guessed of the actions of their master, so that the entiresafari was aware of matters before Baynes, who marched closeto the head of the column, was reached and acquainted with thefacts and the imaginings of the black boy whom Malbihn haddeserted in the clearing the night before.

When the Hon. Morison had listened to all that the boy hadto say and realized that the trader had used him as a tool wherebyhe himself might get Meriem into his possession, his blood ran hotwith rage and he trembled with apprehension for the girl's safety.

That another contemplated no worse a deed than he had contemplatedin no way palliated the hideousness of the other's offense. At first it did not occur to him that he would have wrongedMeriem no less than he believed "Hanson" contemplated wronging her. Now his rage was more the rage of a man beaten at his own gameand robbed of the prize that he had thought already his.

"Do you know where your master has gone?" he asked the black.

"Yes, Bwana," replied the boy. "He has gone to the other campbeside the big afi that flows far toward the setting sun.

"Can you take me to him?" demanded Baynes.

The boy nodded affirmatively. Here he saw a method of revenginghimself upon his hated Bwana and at the same time of escapingthe wrath of the Big Bwana whom all were positive would firstfollow after the northerly safari.

"Can you and I, alone, reach his camp?" asked the Hon. Morison.

"Yes, Bwana," assured the black.

Baynes turned toward the head-man. He was conversant with"Hanson's" plans now. He understood why he had wished tomove the northern camp as far as possible toward the northernboundary of the Big Bwana's country--it would give him farmore time to make his escape toward the West Coast while theBig Bwana was chasing the northern contingent. Well, he wouldutilize the man's plans to his own end. He, too, must keep outof the clutches of his host.

"You may take the men north as fast as possible," he said tothe head-man. "I shall return and attempt to lead the Big Bwanato the west."

The Negro assented with a grunt. He had no desire to followthis strange white man who was afraid at night; he had less toremain at the tender mercies of the Big Bwana's lusty warriors,between whom and his people there was long-standing bloodfeud; and he was more than delighted, into the bargain, for alegitimate excuse for deserting his much hated Swede master.He knew a way to the north and his own country that the whitemen did not know--a short cut across an arid plateau where laywater holes of which the white hunters and explorers that hadpassed from time to time the fringe of the dry country hadnever dreamed. He might even elude the Big Bwana should he followthem, and with this thought uppermost in his mind he gatheredthe remnants of Malbihn's safari into a semblance of order andmoved off toward the north. And toward the southwest the blackboy led the Hon. Morison Baynes into the jungles.

Korak had waited about the camp, watching the Hon. Morisonuntil the safari had started north. Then, assured that theyoung Englishman was going in the wrong direction to meetMeriem he had abandoned him and returned slowly to the pointwhere he had seen the girl, for whom his heart yearned, in thearms of another.

So great had been his happiness at seeing Meriem alive that,for the instant, no thought of jealousy had entered his mind.Later these thoughts had come--dark, bloody thoughts thatwould have made the flesh of the Hon. Morison creep could hehave guessed that they were revolving in the brain of a savagecreature creeping stealthily among the branches of the forestgiant beneath which he waited the coming of "Hanson" and the girl.

And with passing of the hours had come subdued reflectionin which he had weighed himself against the trimly clad Englishgentleman and--found that he was wanting. What had he to offerher by comparison with that which the other man might offer? What was his "mess of pottage" to the birthright that the otherhad preserved? How could he dare go, naked and unkempt, to thatfair thing who had once been his jungle-fellow and propose thething that had been in his mind when first the realization of hislove had swept over him? He shuddered as he thought of theirreparable wrong that his love would have done the innocentchild but for the chance that had snatched her from him beforeit was too late. Doubtless she knew now the horror that hadbeen in his mind. Doubtless she hated and loathed him as hehated and loathed himself when he let his mind dwell upon it.He had lost her. No more surely had she been lost when hethought her dead than she was in reality now that he had seenher living--living in the guise of a refinement that hadtransfigured and sanctified her.

He had loved her before, now he worshipped her. He knewthat he might never possess her now, but at least he mightsee her. From a distance he might look upon her. Perhaps hemight serve her; but never must she guess that he had found heror that he lived.

He wondered if she ever thought of him--if the happy daysthat they had spent together never recurred to her mind. It seemed unbelievable that such could be the case, and yet,too, it seemed almost equally unbelievable that this beautifulgirl was the same disheveled, half naked, little sprite whoskipped nimbly among the branches of the trees as they ran andplayed in the lazy, happy days of the past. It could not bethat her memory held more of the past than did her new appearance.

It was a sad Korak who ranged the jungle near the plain's edgewaiting for the coming of his Meriem--the Meriem who never came.

But there came another--a tall, broad-shouldered man in khakiat the head of a swarthy crew of ebon warriors. The man's facewas set in hard, stern lines and the marks of sorrow were writdeep about his mouth and eyes--so deep that the set expressionof rage upon his features could not obliterate them.

Korak saw the man pass beneath him where he hid in the greattree that had harbored him before upon the edge of that fatefullittle clearing. He saw him come and he set rigid and frozen andsuffering above him. He saw him search the ground with hiskeen eyes, and he only sat there watching with eyes that glazedfrom the intensity of his gaze. He saw him sign to his men thathe had come upon that which he sought and he saw him passout of sight toward the north, and still Korak sat like a gravenimage, with a heart that bled in dumb misery. An hour laterKorak moved slowly away, back into the jungle toward the west.He went listlessly, with bent head and stooped shoulders, likean old man who bore upon his back the weight of a great sorrow.

Baynes, following his black guide, battled his way throughthe dense underbrush, riding stooped low over his horse's neck,or often he dismounted where the low branches swept too closeto earth to permit him to remain in the saddle. The black wastaking him the shortest way, which was no way at all for ahorseman, and after the first day's march the young Englishmanwas forced to abandon his mount, and follow his nimble guideentirely on foot.

During the long hours of marching the Hon. Morison hadmuch time to devote to thought, and as he pictured the probablefate of Meriem at the hands of the Swede his rage against theman became the greater. But presently there came to him arealization of the fact that his own base plans had led the girlinto this terrible predicament, and that even had she escaped"Hanson" she would have found but little better deserts awaitingher with him.

There came too, the realization that Meriem was infinitelymore precious to him than he had imagined. For the first timehe commenced to compare her with other women of his acquaintance--women of birth and position--and almost to his surprise--hediscovered that the young Arab girl suffered less than they bythe comparison. And then from hating "Hanson" he came to lookupon himself with hate and loathing--to see himself and hisperfidious act in all their contemptible hideousness.

Thus, in the crucible of shame amidst the white heat of nakedtruths, the passion that the man had felt for the girl he hadconsidered his social inferior was transmuted into love. And ashe staggered on there burned within him beside his newbornlove another great passion--the passion of hate urging him onto the consummation of revenge.

A creature of ease and luxury, he had never been subjectedto the hardships and tortures which now were his constantcompanionship, yet, his clothing torn, his flesh scratchedand bleeding, he urged the black to greater speed, though withevery dozen steps he himself fell from exhaustion.

It was revenge which kept him going--that and a feeling thatin his suffering he was partially expiating the great wrong hehad done the girl he loved--for hope of saving her from the fateinto which he had trapped her had never existed. "Too late! Too late!" was the dismal accompaniment of thought to whichhe marched. "Too late! Too late to save; but not too lateto avenge!" That kept him up.

Only when it became too dark to see would he permit of a halt. A dozen times in the afternoon he had threatened the blackwith instant death when the tired guide insisted upon resting.The fellow was terrified. He could not understand the remarkablechange that had so suddenly come over the white man who hadbeen afraid in the dark the night before. He would havedeserted this terrifying master had he had the opportunity; butBaynes guessed that some such thought might be in the other'smind, and so gave the fellow none. He kept close to him by dayand slept touching him at night in the rude thorn boma theyconstructed as a slight protection against prowling carnivora.

That the Hon. Morison could sleep at all in the midst of thesavage jungle was sufficient indication that he had changedconsiderably in the past twenty-four hours, and that he couldlie close beside a none-too-fragrant black man spoke ofpossibilities for democracy within him yet all undreamed of.

Morning found him stiff and lame and sore, but none the lessdetermined to push on in pursuit of "Hanson" as rapidly as possible. With his rifle he brought down a buck at a ford in a small streamshortly after they broke camp, breakfastless. Begrudgingly hepermitted a halt while they cooked and ate, and then on againthrough the wilderness of trees and vines and underbrush.

And in the meantime Korak wandered slowly westward, comingupon the trail of Tantor, the elephant, whom he overtookbrowsing in the deep shade of the jungle. The ape-man, lonelyand sorrowing, was glad of the companionship of his huge friend. Affectionately the sinuous trunk encircled him, and he wasswung to the mighty back where so often before he had lolledand dreamed the long afternoon away.

Far to the north the Big Bwana and his black warriors clungtenaciously to the trail of the fleeing safari that wasluring them further and further from the girl they sought tosave, while back at the bungalow the woman who had loved Meriemas though she had been her own waited impatiently and in sorrowfor the return of the rescuing party and the girl she was positiveher invincible lord and master would bring back with him.