It was now far into the night, and apparently the beasts of prey had taken refuge in the clefts of the rocks after their nocturnal hunt for prey. The horse neighed a little on scenting the fresh trail of lions or panthers, but Stasch passed safely on, and soon saw on the high projection the large black silhouette of “Cracow.” For the first time since he had been in the interior of Africa he felt as if he had reached home. He had expected to find them all still asleep, but he never thought of Saba, who now began to bark loud enough to wake the dead.
The next moment Kali stood in front of the tree and cried:
“Bwana Kubwa on horseback!”
The tone of his voice expressed more joy than astonishment, for his faith in Stasch’s powers was so great that had the latter created a horse out of nothing, the black boy would not have been very much surprised. But as the negro always shows his happiness by laughing, he began to slap his sides and laugh inordinately.
“Tie up this horse,” said Stasch; “take the provisions off his back, make a fire, and boil some water.”
Then he went inside the tree. Nell was also awake and had been calling for him. On drawing aside the canvas, Stasch saw by the light of the little lamp her pale face and her little thin hands lying on the shawl, which served as a covering.
“Little one, how are you?” he asked quite gayly.
“Well! and I slept soundly until Saba woke me up. But why aren’t you asleep?”
“Because I have been away.”
“Where?”