With great caution the boys coaxed the Okapi through the trailing branches, so that she would be hidden from view if the natives looked up the channel. Then they waited and waited for ages before the hunter showed himself.
"Well?" they asked in a whisper.
"They have passed on."
"And?" they said, watching his face.
"I don't quite like it. They may have no suspicions, but I think they have; for one man pointed up in this direction."
"If they suspected anything they would have stopped surely."
"Perhaps not. The native doesn't like the look of a trap, and it maybe that they passed on with the intention of returning at night. Or they may have gone for the other boats." Mr. Hume stood up to glance shorewards.
"Would it not be better to move on?" said Venning.
"If we could be sure that we should not be seen from the land, that would be the move." He stroked his beard. "I guess we'll move," he said, "just about dusk, for I'm pretty sure in my mind that they did take particular notice of this channel, and my policy is always to listen to your instincts."
"Instincts," muttered Compton; "call them nerves."