Brightly, as on the New Year's night that saw the troops landing on that fatal shore, the moon was shining now--brighter even; never had Jerry seen such brilliancy. In all the vast expanse of the firmament overhead there was not a vestige of cloud. Millions of stars were there, but their splendour was dimmed or obscured by the splendid effulgence of the moon. The vast leaves of plants, whose names were all unknown to the lost Jerry, were shining in dew as if diamonds had rained from heaven; every giant cotton-tree and palm, every rock and fissure were illuminated, and the birds flew to and fro as if a new day had dawned, but a day of silver, icy-like splendour, and clear as in a mirror were the shadows of the trees and graceful palms reflected downward in the sheet of water that glittered in the sheen. But that he was so weary and faint Jerry would have availed himself of this wonderful moonlight and endeavoured to get round the flank of the vast sheet of water that barred his progress, and which reflected the radiance like a mighty sheet of crystal; but he was compelled to wait till morning, and again sought shelter under some jungly bushes. Near the place he saw several broken meat tins and empty bottles scattered about, indicating where some of our troops had halted before the final march was made into Coomassie; and he regarded with interest and anxiety these vestiges which proved that he was in the right track could he but cross the intervening flood. With his very existence trembling in the balance with fate, what a small matter now seemed the mortgages over Wilmothurst and every consideration save the love of Bella Chevenix; and while he strove to court sleep--oblivion in that savage wilderness, where no sound met the ear save the plash of falling dew as some overcharged leaf bent downward; his whole soul was full of her image--the image of her he too probably should never, never see again. With earliest dawn he was again afoot and seeking to get round the reach of water, but it trended away through hollows far to the north and south, yet with an aching heart he struggled manfully at his task. On every hand towered up to the height of two hundred and fifty feet or more, straight as stone columns, the cotton-trees, like the giants of primeval vegetation, and round their bases flourished the wondrous undergrowth of jungle, under which again grew white lilies, pink flowers, and dog-roses; amid which could be heard sharp trumpetings of enormous mosquitoes, with the monotonous too-too of the wild doves, which alone broke the silence of the bush. 'This silence,' wrote one who served in the campaign, 'this apparently never-ending forest, this monotony of rank vegetation, this absence of a breath of wind to rustle a leaf, becomes oppressive, and the feeling is not lessened by the dampness and heaviness of the air, and by the malarious exhalation and odour of decaying vegetation which rise from the swamps.'