ON THE MARCH AGAIN. 26 1 CHAPTER m. ON THE MARCH AGAIN.
- ' Africa ! Afrîca! " was the terrible word that echoed and
re-echoed în the mind of Dick Sands. As he pondered over the events of the preceding weeks he could now understand why, notwithstanding the rapîd progress of the shîp, the land seemed ever to be receding, and why the voyage had been prolonged to twîce its anticipated Icngth. It remained, however, a mystery inexplicable as before, how and when they had rounded Cape Horn and passed înto another océan. Suddenly the idea flashed upon him that the compass must hâve been tampered with ; and he remembered the fall of the first compass ; he recallcd the night when he had been roused by Tom's cry of alarm that Negoro had fallcn agaînst the binnacle. As he rccollected thèse cîrcumstances he became more and more convinccd that ît was Negoro who was the mainspring of ail the mis- chîef ; that it was he who had contrived the loss of the
- Pilgrîm," and compromised the safety of ail on board.
What had been the career, what could bc the motives of a man who was capable of such vile machinations ? But shroudcd in mystery as were the events of the past, the présent offered a prospect equally obscure. Beyond the fact that he was in Africa and a hundred miles from the coast, Dick knew absolutely nothing. He could only conjecture that he was in the fatal province of Angola, and assured as he was that Harris had acted the traitor, he was led to the conclusion that he and Negoro had been playing into each other's hands. The rcsult of
