He thought for a moment, then remembered a deep hollow which he had encountered but a short while before.  Gazing around, to make certain that nobody was watching him, he picked up the unconscious lad and stalked off with the form, back into the jungle and up a small hill.

At the top there was a split between the rocks and dirt, and into this he dropped poor Dick, a distance of twenty or more feet.  Then he threw down some loose leaves and dead tree branches.

“Now I reckon I am getting square with those Rovers,” he muttered, as he hurried away.

The others of the Rover party wondered why Dick did not join them when they gathered around the camp-fire that night.

“He must be done fishing by this time,” said Tom.  “I wonder if anything has happened to him?”

“Let us take a walk up de lake an’ see,” put in Aleck, and the pair started off without delay.

They soon found the spot where Dick had been fishing.  His rod and line lay on the bank, just as he had dropped it upon Josiah Crabtree’s approach.

“Dick!  Dick!  Where are you?” called out Tom.

No answer came back at first.  Then, to Tom’s astonishment, a strange voice answered from the woods:  “Here I am!  Where are you?”

“Dat aint Dick,” muttered Aleck.  “Dat’s sumbuddy else, Massah Tom.”

“So it is,” replied Tom, and presently saw a tall and well-built young man struggling forth from the tall grass of the jungle.

“Hullo, what are you?” demanded the newcomer, as he stalked toward them.

“I guess I can ask the same question,” laughed Tom.  “Are you the Dick who just answered me?”

“I am Dick Chester.  And who are you?”

“Tom Rover.  I am looking for my brother Dick, who was fishing here a while ago.  Are you one of that party of college students we have heard about?”

“Yes, I’m a college student from Yale.  May I ask where you come from?”

In a brief manner Tom told Dick Chester.  “We can’t imagine what has become of my brother Dick,” he went on.

“Perhaps a lion ate him up,” answered the Yale student.  “No, you needn’t smile.  We saw a lion only yesterday.  It nearly scared Mr. Crabtree into a fit.”

“Mr. Crabtree!” burst Torn.  “Josiah Crabtree?”

“The same.  Do you know him?”

“Indeed I do —­ to my sorrow.  He used to be a teacher at the academy I and my brothers attend.  But he was discharged.  He’s a regular rascal.”

“You are sure of that?” queried Dick Chester.  “I have thought so all along, but the others, would hardly believe it.”

“I am telling the truth, and can prove all I say.  But just now I am anxious about my brother.  You say you saw a lion?”

“Yes.  He was across the lake; but Mr. Crabtree was scared to death and ran away.  Frank Rand and I took shots at the beast, but I can’t say if we hit him.”