It was not until the heat of the day had been spent that the expedition resumed its journey, after, an excellent meal made from the supplies Captain Villaire’s party had left behind in their hurried flight.  Some of the remaining supplies were done up into bundles by Cujo, to replace those which had been lost when the natives hired by Randolph Rover had deserted.

“It’s queer we didn’t see anything of that man and woman from the inn,” remarked Dick, as they set off.  “I reckon they got scared at the very start.”

They journeyed until long after nightfall, “To make up for lost time,” as Mr. Rover expressed it, and so steadily did Cujo push on that when a halt was called the boys were glad enough to rest.  They had reached a native village called Rowimu.  Here Cujo was well known and he readily procured good accommodations for all hands.

The next week passed without special incident, excepting that one afternoon the whole party went hunting, bringing down a large quantity of birds, and several small animals, including an antelope, which to the boys looked like a Maine deer excepting for the peculiar formation of its horns.

“I wonder how Mr. Blaze is making out?” said Tom, when they were returning to camp from the hunt.

“Oh, I reckon he is blasting away at game,” laughed Sam, and Tom at once groaned over the attempted joke.

“Perhaps we will meet him some day —­ if he’s in this territory,” put in Dick.  “But just now I am looking for nobody but father.”

“And so are all of us,” said Tom and Sam promptly.

They were getting deeper and deeper into the jungle and had to take good care that they did not become separated.  Yet Cujo said he understood the way perfectly and often proved his words by mentioning something which they would soon reach, a stream, a little lake, or a series of rocks with a tiny waterfall.

“Been ober dis ground many times,” said the guide.

“I suppose this is the ground Stanley covered in his famous expedition along the Congo,” remarked Dick, as they journeyed along.  “But who really discovered the country, Uncle Randolph?”

“That is a difficult question to answer, Dick.  The Portuguese, the Spanish, and the French all claim that honor, along with the English.  I fancy different sections, were discovered by different nationalities.  This Free State, you know, is controlled by half a dozen nations.”

“I wonder if the country will ever be thoroughly civilized?”

“It will take a long while, I am afraid.  Christianity will have to come first.  Many of the tribes in Africa are, you must remember, without any form of religion whatever, being even worse than what we call heathens, who worship some sort of a God.”

“Don’t they believe in anything?” asked Sam.

“Nothing, Sam.  And their morality is of the lowest grade in consequence.  They murder and steal whenever the chance offers, and when they think the little children too much care for them they pitch them into the rivers for the crocodiles to feed upon.”