"I would like to see one," said Ralph. "But I thought lions were found
mostly in Central and Southern Africa. At least so I've read."

"Right you are. But now and then they frequent the Gold Coast. I have
heard them in Natal, and down about the diamond regions. Once you hear
a wild lion roar, you never forget the sound."

As the sun mounted above the forest, the odorous mists that infest
those regions were drawn upward, giving out as the air grew warm a
sickening and malarious influence. Vast and gloomy cypress, bay, swamp
palm, ironwood, and other tropical woods reared their columnar trunks,
from out a dark and noisome undergrowth, to an immense height. In
those leafy depths no sun ever shone, and the absence of bird life was
noticeably depressing.

"I hardly wonder the captain wants to get away as soon as possible,"
remarked Duff, as they at last neared the narrow point where the river
entered the little harbor. "A week in this place and half of us would
be down with coast fever."

An exclamation from Ralph, who was in the bow, came next, as the yawl
passed the last leafy point, and the surface of the anchorage became
visible.

"What now?" demanded Duff.