Charles Bramble awaited impatiently the coming of the guide, until
indeed he was afraid that longer delay would expose him to the arrest
which he so much desired to avoid, and then telling Leonard that he
would hasten forward to the outskirts of the town, where he would await
the guide. Leonard Hust promised to bring him directly, and thus they
parted; the younger brother, hastening towards the jungle at the
environs of Sierra Leone, at length reached the designated spot, where
he quietly awaited the arrival of his guide. It was quite dark before
the expected individual came; but at length he did arrive, and thrusting
a note into the hands of the impatient refugee, waited for orders.
Charles opened the paper and read in a rough school-boy hand, that he,
Leonard Hast, had intended to come to see him off, but that he could
not, and that the bearer was a faithful guide, somewhat eccentric, but
reliable.

Charles Bramble looked carefully for a few moments at the companion of
his long and dangerous journey. He saw before him the person of a negro,
slender, agile, rather below the usual height, and clothed after the
style of the settlers, in pants and jacket, but with a red handkerchief
bound upon the head. In a coarse, leathern belt, the negro wore a short
double-edged knife and a pistol, while in his hand he held a short,
sharp spear, which served for staff and weapon both, and was designed
more particularly for defence against the wild animals that infested the
jungle in all directions.

The guide was painted in the face after fantastic style often adopted by
the shore tribes in Africa, in alternate lines of red and yellow and
white, so as to give a most strange and inhuman expression to the
countenance. But Charles Bramble was familiar with these tricks of the
race, and saluting the guide kindly told him his plans, and asked if he