ing heat of the day. Sometimes an elephant made the coppices shake, and they distinctly heard the crashing of the trees which gave way before his tusks.
"What a hunting country!" exclaimed Kennedy, enthusiastically; "a bullet sent in there at hazard, right into the forest, would meet with game worthy of it. Can we not have a try at it?"
"No, no, my dear Dick; night is upon us, and a rather 'nasty' night too, bringing a storm up with it. Storms in this country are no joke, I can tell you, where the earth plays the part of an immense electric battery."
"You are right, sir," said Joe; "the heat is becoming stifling, the breeze has quite died away, and one feels that something is going to happen."
"The atmosphere is surcharged with electricity," replied the doctor; "every living thing is aware of the state of the air which precedes a conflict of the elements; but I confess I never have been impregnated with it at such a height myself."
"Well," said the Scot, "should we not rather descend?"
"On the contrary, Dick, I would rather go higher up. I fear only to be hurried out of my course during the cross atmospheric currents."
"Do you wish, then, to abandon our route towards the coast?"
"If possible," replied Ferguson, "I will go more directly towards the north for seven or eight degrees. I will endeavor to go up towards the supposed latitude of the sources of the Nile. Perhaps we shall discover some traces of Captain Speke's expedition, or even the caravan of M. de Heuglin. If my calculations be correct, we are in 32° 40″ longitude, and I should like to go up beyond the equator."
"Look here," cried Kennedy, interrupting, "look at those hippopotami swimming about the pools—what masses of flesh they are—and see the crocodiles gasping in their attempts to breathe."
"They are choking," said Joe. "Ah! what a splendid way this is to travel, and how we can despise all those horrible vermin. Mr. Samuel, Mr. Kennedy—look at those bands of animals marching closely together. There must be 200 of them, at least; they are wolves."
