"That's agreed, then," said Lavie. "And now, there is another thing. He says it won't be safe for us to sleep under these trees, even though we light a fire, and keep it up all night. It seems that the neighbourhood abounds with beast of prey. Indeed, if Omatoko is to be believed there would be a considerable risk of our being devoured by a lion or tiger--" "Tiger!" repeated Warley. "There are no tigers in this country surely." "Not the animal strictly called the tiger," returned the surgeon; "that is not found in South Africa at all, or indeed anywhere, I believe, except in Bengal. The beast they name the tiger here, is the leopard; but he is quite fierce and savage enough. I should observe that the leopard is not the only animal miscalled in this country. They talk of the wild horse, the camel, and the wolf, as abounding here. But none of these are to be found. What they mean are properly the zebra, the giraffe, and the hyena. But to go on, Omatoko says we must either keep watch, all of us, with our guns all night--" "I say, bother that," broke in Nick; "a fellow can't do without sleep." "Or else," resumed Charles; "we must climb into trees and sleep there." "Well, we can do that," said Frank; "that is, we four can. But how about this Hottentot? He is in no case to climb a tree, I judge, much less to stick in one all night." "And how about Lion?" added Gilbert. "He is a worse climber still, I expect." "Omatoko advised us to cut down a lot of young pines that are growing in a thicket close by, and lay them across two of the lower branches of the largest tree we can find. There are several acacias of immense size about here. A sort of floor will thus be formed, where we can all sleep safely. The branches would probably be not more than six feet from the ground, so that both the Hottentot and Lion might easily be handed up." "But these leopards can climb, can't they?" suggested Frank. "We should be safe from lions or rhinoceroses no doubt, but not from leopards, or bears either, if there are any about here." "I don't think any bears are to be found hereabouts. No doubt panthers and leopards can climb trees, but remember, they could only get at us by walking along the bough on the end of which our platform rests, or by dropping down from a higher limb. Lion would be sure to rouse us before they could accomplish either feat, and they would be easy victims to our rifles." "That's true," said Wilmore. "Well, then, do you three fall to work on the job, while I roast some parrots for to-morrow's breakfast."