Hours later Frank was still shaking as he stood in the darkness on the edge of the gazing through the night glasses in the direction indicated by the pointers and waiting for the signal rockets which he expected momentarily to see up from the village in the darkened plain far below.  
Behind him at the radio station was Bob with Samba seated before the transmitter. Every wire had been gone over, the motor had been and found to be in perfect working condition, and the two boys were confident of being able to carry out their part of the program.
 
In the in the background, Frank could see here and there the gleam of one of the cooking fires about which the bearers left to him and Bob were preparing their evening meal. With nothing to do that day, the bearers had enjoyed life by taking a long nap. Now they were up and about the fires, Frank knew, cooking and . He could even hear occasionally the sound of a laugh from the light-hearted fellows, louder than usual.
 
Well, they would need those fires, he reflected, not alone for the preparation of food but to provide warmth. At this altitude of 8,000 feet, the nights, as they had discovered the night previous, became very cold. In fact, Frank was wearing heavy knickers tucked into high lace boots and the warmest sweater he could find, for the first time in months.
 
The presence of Bob not far away and of the bearers in the background, together with the glow of their fires, was welcome to the boy on lonely outpost above that pit of shadows into which night seemed to have flung a world of soft .
 
For the forest world was awake. And now the quiet of day, broken only by bird calls or the occasional bark of a , had given way to a of terrifying sounds. The of and thrilled and vibrated mournfully. Constantly the boom of the gorilla cut across all other noises, aweing them into silence for a moment, after which they would begin again. , insects and hummed near at hand, about Frank’s face. And from the distant plain below rose the barking of a jackal pack pierced through now and again by the mournful note of the .
 
It was Africa. And by night Africa awakes. Frank was both fascinated and . But with it all he was thrilled, too, thrilled at the thought that he had been lucky enough in his youth to be able to into the very heart of this most mysterious continent on the face of the globe, to its mysteries and wonders close at hand.
 
Suddenly out of that darkness cloaking the plain a ball of fire soared upward followed by a glowing comet’s tail of sparks, and then another and another followed.
 
Through the spyglass Frank could see them clearly, although he knew that in his remoter position at the rear, where the radio had been set up, Bob was that the rockets had been touched off. He did not even wait to pick his cautious way back over the rocks, which were so the boys had considered it best not to the radio station upon them, but, instead, put his hand to his mouth and called to Bob.
 
“All right? Have they signalled?” came Bob’s hail in response.
 
“They’ve signalled,” shouted Frank. “Let’s go.”
 
Then turning his pocket flashlight on the rocks in order to guard against either missteps or stepping upon a snake, he made his way to his comrade’s side.
 
Samba was still speaking when Frank arrived, for he covered the intervening ground hastily when once free of the rocks. And as Frank, at Bob’s finger on his lips, stood in silence looking at their strange broadcaster, he could not repress a smile. Samba was freely, although the coolness of night already had set in. And anybody unaccustomed to telephoning who has remained seated for any length of time at the instrument, will appreciate the nervousness from which the poor fellow suffered. But he was undaunted. And what was most to the point, considered Frank, was the fact that his nervousness was not betrayed in his voice. What it was he was saying in the dialect of the region, Frank of course could not understand. But Samba was delivering it with unction and solemnity, and Frank could not but reflect that in this semi- man lay the makings of a actor. The truth is, of course, that peoples naturally possess histrionic possibilities such as more highly civilized beings must struggle and often without result to .
 
Turning toward Bob, Samba lifted his in a funny quizzical glance, a question evidently as to what to do now. Bob could not refrain from laughing. Placing a big hand over the transmitter, he asked whether Samba had said all that had been outlined to him to say.
 
The black nodded, and when Bob said “Well, that’s all, then,” and closed the circuit, he breathed a great sigh of relief.
 
“Him tough job,” said Samba simply, running his big hand over his sweating shiny face. Then a look of pride crossed his features. “Him good job, hey?” he asked.
 
Both boys thwacked him on the back.
 
“I couldn’t understand a word of it, Samba,” said Frank. “But it sounded solemn and strong to me.”
 
“Me, too,” agreed Bob, slangily.
 
Samba grinned.
 
In the meantime, at the plains village made headquarters by The Prophet, raw drama was being .
 
Entering in the late afternoon, the party presented a not unimpressive array. At the head marched Mr. Hampton and Mr. Ransome, both lean, tall, capable looking, dressed in semi-military costumes of khaki topped by broad-brimmed campaign hats such as are still worn throughout the American West. Revolvers swung at their sides, rifles over their shoulders.
 
Behind marched the ten men of the guard in double file, shouldering their rifles and keeping step with military precision. And behind them came the fifty bearers, tall fellows all and handy men with the long keen knives in sheaths at the waist. Lake natives selected at Masaka for their strength and intelligence, they were all picked men. And Mr. Hampton had impressed upon them the possibility of trouble and received from each the assurance that he would stand by in case of attack, but would give the native populace no cause for taking unless attacked.
 
At the head of the bearers marched , it being agreed that it would be best for him not to appear with Mr. Hampton and Mr. Ransome when they dealt with the chief of the village in order that later, when he should slip away to the radio, his absence would go unnoticed. As for the radio, it and the aerial and loudspeaker were all packed in two small boxes borne by bearers in the middle of the line where they would be least noticed.
 
At the very rear of the procession moved Niellsen, with his motion picture camera and tripod, two bearers carrying his film case. Rightly it had been figured that the front and rear of the procession were the two points of chief interest to , and that in placing Niellsen at the rear he would become a center of attention. And that was the thing to be desired, when Jack should set about his appointed task.
 
Tall , black as ebony, some like the Masai tribesmen who are the giants of Africa, a height of six feet seven or eight, crowded around. With their great hide shields and twelve foot spears, they presented a threatening appearance. But none attempted to lay hands on the members of the column as it proceeded through the village toward the chief’s hut. Indeed, the threatening presence of the gun-bearing guard had a salutary effect. Well enough did the warriors know the power of the white men’s guns. In fact, glances were cast at the bearers by warriors desiring to possess a gun more than anything else.
 
Straight to the open space or central of the village moved the party. Then Mr. Hampton and Mr. Ransome halted, and a tall commanding figure of a man somewhat advanced in years but still er............