“But on the other bank—­”

“I shall not land if I see the least danger.”

“Take your gun.”

“Yes, but do not be uneasy about me.”

“Perhaps it would be better for us not to separate, Dick,” added Mrs. Weldon, as if urged by some presentiment.

“No—­let me go alone,” replied Dick Sand.  “I must act for the security of all.  Before one hour I shall be back.  Watch well, Hercules.”

On this reply the boat, unfastened, carried Dick Sand to the other side of the Zaire.

Mrs. Weldon and Hercules, lying in the papyrus thickets, followed him with their eyes.

Dick Sand soon reached the middle of the stream.  The current, without being very strong, was a little accentuated there by the attraction of the falls.  Four hundred feet below, the imposing roaring of the waters filled the space, and some spray, carried by the western wind, reached the young novice.  He shuddered at the thought that the boat, if it had been less carefully watched during the last night, would have been lost over those cataracts, that would only have restored dead bodies.  But that was no longer to be feared, and, at that moment, the oar skilfully handled sufficed to maintain it in a direction a little oblique to the current.

A quarter of an hour after, Dick Sand had reached the opposite shore, and was preparing to spring on the bank.

At that moment cries were heard, and ten natives rushed on the mass of plants that still hid the boat.

They were the cannibals from the lake village.  For eight days they had followed the right bank of the river.  Under that thatch, which was torn by the stakes of their village, they had discovered the fugitives, that is to say, a sure prey for them, because the barrier of the falls would sooner or later oblige those unfortunate ones to land on one or the other side of the river.

Dick Sand saw that he was lost, but he asked himself if the sacrifice of his life might not save his companions.  Master of himself, standing in the front of the boat, his gun pointed, he held the cannibals in check.

Meanwhile, they snatched away the thatch, under which they expected to find other victims.  When they saw that the young novice alone had fallen into their hands, they betrayed their disappointment by frightful cries.  A boy of fifteen among ten!

But, then, one of those natives stood up, his arm stretched toward the left bank, and pointed to Mrs. Weldon and her companions, who, having seen all and not knowing what to do, had just climbed up the bank!

Dick Sand, not even dreaming of himself, waited for an inspiration from Heaven that might save them.

The boat was going to be pushed out into the stream.  The cannibals were going to cross the river.  They did not budge before the gun aimed at them, knowing the effect of fire-arms.  But one of them had seized the oar; he managed it like a man who knew how to use it, and the boat crossed the river obliquely.  Soon it was not more than a hundred feet from the left bank.