"Straight on," was the prompt reply; "if the rain catches us here on the plain we shall all be drowned."
"But where are we to go?" repeated Dick, in despair; "if only there were a hut! But look, look there!"
A vivid flash of lightning had lit up the country, and Dick declared that he could see a camp which could hardly be more than a quarter of a mile ahead.
The negro looked doubtful.
"I saw it too," he assented: "but if it be a camp at all it would be a camp of natives; and to fall into that would involve us in a worse fate than the rain."
Another brilliant flash brought the camp once again into relief; it appeared to be made up of about a hundred conical tents, arranged very symmetrically, each of them being from twelve to fifteen feet in height. It had the appearance, from a distance, of being deserted; if it were really so, it would afford just the shelter that was needed; otherwise, at all hazards, it must be most carefully avoided.
"I will go in advance," said Dick, after a moment's reflection, "and reconnoitre it."
"Let one of us, at least, go with you," replied Tom.
"No, stay where you are; I shall be much less likely to be discovered if I go alone."
Without another word, he darted off, and was soon lost in the sombre darkness that was only broken by the frequent lightning.