But I could scarcely realize what had happened. What it meant to me of course I did not know. It was the fall of the year. The blackbirds were chattering in the hedges, and off in the fields a bob-white had begun to pipe his cheery whistle. It was all the same, but there was a great blank somewhere. I could not even cry. My heart and senses were deadened by my sorrow, and yet I felt angry, as if I had been robbed. When we returned to the house after the funeral, Mr. Edgerton, the lawyer, was waiting. "I have here Madam Hurdiss's warrant to examine her effects, and the key to a certain strong-box which she has directed me to open and take care of," he said. "We will start for the Gunpowder to-morrow morning. You will go with us, doctor?" My kind friend nodded. "The young gentleman will accompany us," he replied, with a hand on my head. "He is the party most interested." "Of course," returned the lawyer. "And we will start early." Then he said something about its being "a most interesting case," and the two gentlemen left the room. That night, for the third time, I sobbed myself to sleep, Aunt Sheba holding my hand and crooning the old Congo song that had lulled me many times on her wide bosom. [TO BE CONTINUED.] [Illustration: ADVENTURES WITH FRIEND PAUL] Friend Paul has crossed the Atlantic in a small vessel with all the things he has bought, and you and he will explore the country together. It is very important that the explorer be exceedingly careful at first, and that he watch the treacherous climate. Many white men in Africa have lost their lives by their own rashness. They go in the sun all day long after flowers, butterflies, insects, birds, or animals, and they perish in a few days, victims of the tropical climate. In the next place, one must not drink spirits. Many lives along the coast have also been lost on that account. The buoyant spirit of youth is quite enough to carry you through all kinds of hardships. It is very nice for every young fellow to rough it, to go through hardships, to have plenty of walking, to eat all kinds of food, to paddle or row. If he does these, he will have plenty of health for the future and no dyspepsia. The explorer in a wild country should be always on the alert, and think that there is danger lurking everywhere--that an enemy in the shape of a man, or of a wild beast, or of a snake is hiding behind every tree; he must look inside of his hat, on the ground upon which he treads, and in scores of other places, for venomous reptiles or insects.