They came on noiselessly, nay stealthily, and glided along
through the gloom that surrounded us as if about to spring upon
some object they were fearful of disturbing before they should
make sure of it.--Gracious heaven! the horrible reflections
which crowded upon me that moment.--A cold sweat stood upon my
brow, and spell-bound with terror I awaited my fate!

Suddenly the silence was broken by the well-remembered tones of
Mehevi, and at the kindly accents of his voice my fears were
immediately dissipated. 'Tommo, Toby, ki ki!' (eat). He had
waited to address us, until he had assured himself that we were
both awake, at which he seemed somewhat surprised.

'Ki ki! is it?' said Toby in his gruff tones; 'Well, cook us
first, will you--but what's this?' he added, as another savage
appeared, bearing before him a large trencher of wood containing
some kind of steaming meat, as appeared from the odours it
diffused, and which he deposited at the feet of Mehevi. 'A baked
baby, I dare say I but I will have none of it, never mind what it
is.--A pretty fool I should make of myself, indeed, waked up here
in the middle of the night, stuffing and guzzling, and all to
make a fat meal for a parcel of booby-minded cannibals one of
these mornings!--No, I see what they are at very plainly, so I am
resolved to starve myself into a bunch of bones and gristle, and
then, if they serve me up, they are welcome! But I say, Tommo,
you are not going to eat any of that mess there, in the dark, are
you? Why, how can you tell what it is?'

'By tasting it, to be sure,' said I, masticating a morsel that