"But I am so sorry!"
Saying this she rested her little head upon his shoulder and began to weep. He mastered his pain, pressed her to his bosom, and replied with animation:
"Nell, I will not return without you—and I do not at all know what I would do in this world without you."
Silence followed, during which Nell again fell asleep.
Stas carried her to the tree, but he had barely gone outside when from the summit of the promontory Kali came running and waving his hands; he began to shout, with an agitated and frightened face:
"Great master! Great master!"
"What do you want?" Stas asked.
And the negro, stretching out his hand and pointing to the south, said:
"Smoke!"
Stas shaded his eyes with his palm and straining his sight in the direction indicated really saw in the ruddy luster of the sun, which now stood low, a streak of smoke rising far in the jungle, amid the top of two still more distant hills which were quite high.